Section 17 Prehearing Discovery

• Library: Condemnation Practice 2009

For years, no discovery was permitted before the condemnation hearing. In 1995, courts first allowed a defendant to conduct limited discovery before the condemnation hearing as long as the discovery focused on the condemnor’s authority to exercise eminent domain. See, e.g., State ex rel. Rantz v. Sweeney, 901 S.W.2d 289 (Mo. App. S.D. 1995). But see State ex rel. Mo. Highway & Transp. Comm’n v. Bush, 911 S.W.2d 690, 692 (Mo. App. E.D. 1995) (denying prehearing discovery because the landowner’s answer did...