February 10, 2011 at the Court of Appeals

Today, Judges Geer, Stephens, and McCullough will hear oral argument in L & S Water Power v. Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority. This case arises out of an inverse condemnation action connected to the development of a public water supply for the Piedmont Triad. The trial court determined that the Water Authority had taken riparian rights belonging to some of the plaintiff and that the affected plaintiffs were entitled to compensation. The Water Authority contends that the trial court erred in its application of the riparian rights doctrine, in its holding that the plaintiffs did not have to exhaust their administrative remedies prior to brining an inverse condemnation claim, and that the by determining that just compensation is valued by the diminution of each affected plaintiff's capacity to produce electricity.