Section 5 Timeliness in Bringing Action

• Library: Condemnation Practice 2009

One of the most conflicting areas of inverse condemnation has been the application of the statute of limitations. Recent decisions have come a long way to resolve this issue. Before, Missouri courts had consistently held that the five-year period of limitation found in § 516.120, RSMo 2000, applied to inverse condemnation cases. SeeLewis v. City of Potosi, 317 S.W.2d 623 (Mo. App. E.D. 1958). Earlier cases had applied the ten-year statute of limitations based on the limitations period for adverse possession. SeeFansler v. City of Sedalia, 176 S.W. 1102 (Mo. App. W.D. 1915); Barker v. St. Louis County, 104 S.W.2d 371 (Mo. 1937).

In Shade v. Missouri Highway & Transportation Commission, 69 S.W.3d 503 (Mo. App. W.D. 2001), the court held that an inverse condemnation claim may be brought until the condemnor obtains ownership through a prescriptive easement. Id. at 513–14. The court in Shade specifically held that there was no specific statute of limitation to such a claim, but that a claim is barred once a prescriptive easement is obtained, which takes 10 years. This rule was put to the test in City of Gainesville v. Morrison Fertilizer, Inc., 158 S.W.3d 872 (Mo. App. S.D. 2005), in which the City successfully claimed ownership of several parcels under...