State v. Alderwoods (Oregon), Inc.

The central issue in this appeal is whether defendant Alderwoods (Oregon), Inc., had a property interest in specific, direct access to Highway 99W that the state could acquire by eminent domain. I conclude that it did not; defendant never had a real property interest to use its actual or any other specific, substitute driveways along its highway frontage. Thus, there was no “private property” to acquire by eminent domain, and the trial court did not err in excluding damage evidence for the purported taking.1

Judge Armstrong’s concurrence concludes that defendant did have a located common-law…