Chapter §15.13 DAMAGES FOR INVERSE CONDEMNATION

• Jurisdiction: Oregon

§15.13 DAMAGES FOR INVERSE CONDEMNATION

There is little case law in Oregon describing the measure of damages for inverse condemnation. Generally, the damages for a successful inverse condemnation claim are "payment of the value of the property taken." Moeller v. Multnomah Cnty., 218 Or 413, 423, 345 P2d 813 (1959).

In an inverse condemnation case, a city high-pressure "hydro-cleaned" a sewer line, causing raw sewage to blast up through a homeowner's toilets into her ceilings, walls, and deep into her hardwood floors, thereby saturating her furnace, sheetrock, and floors. Dunn v. City of Milwaukie, 241 Or App 95, 97-98, 250 P3d 7, rev allowed, 350 Or 532 (2011). The judgment awarded $58,333 plus attorney fees on the homeowner's inverse condemnation claim. The court of appeals affirmed that award. Damages for the "'substantial interference' with the use and enjoyment" of the property were established through experts' testimony on the significantly diminished value of her home. Dunn, 241 Or App at 105 (an appraiser had estimated the loss of...