Section 21 Rights Must Be Directly Affected

• Library: Condemnation Practice 2009

Generally, for the property owner to recover for damage because of a loss of access, the property must abut the vacated street or highway. Wilson v. Kansas City, 162 S.W.2d 802 (Mo. 1942). But there is an exception. A nonabutting property owner can recover if it can be shown that the landowner was completely deprived of access to the general system of roads because of the taking of the abutting property. Applegate v. Dir. Gen. of Chicago, R.I.&P. Ry. Co., 226 S.W. 628 (Mo. App. W.D. 1920).

When a nonabutting property is not among the properties the condemnor intends to condemn, the nonabutting property owner must show that a property right is directly affected or that...