Representative Case Results
Below are outcomes from completed cases. The results are based on the specific and unique facts of each case. Your case may be very different; you should not assume that an outcome in your case will be the same or similar to any of the case results below. Your outcome will depend on a litany of factors unique to your case. The precise dollar amounts are rounded.
Case Results of Law Office of Matt Hurt, PLLC
2024
Settlement of 13 separate cases for a group of Landowners in Collin and Hunt Counties whose land was being taken by Explorer Pipeline Company for an easement for a pipeline to carry refined petroleum products (gasoline, jet fuel, diesel) to a fuel terminal in Melissa, Texas. Settlement terms confidential.
Settlement of a taking for the expansion of Coit Rd. in Prosper, Texas. The initial offer of $82,935 (which had been based on Collin CAD values) was increased to a final net recovery, after legal fees, of $367,800. The landowner did not have to obtain an appraisal and the Town never filed suit.
Settlement of an Inverse Condemnation Case brought against NTMWD and four contractors who played a part in constructing the Bois d’ Arc Creek Reservoir and dam in Fannin County. Matt’s lawsuit alleged that, during construction, NTMWD inversely condemned a portion of a 226-acre ranch contiguous to and downstream of the emergency overflow spillway when a large rain event carried significant amounts of sand, silt, and dirt from the reservoir construction site onto the downstream ranch, damaging the ranch. The allegations were that either (1) NTMWD knowingly hired the contractors and knew their erosion control measures were inadequate, resulting in an inverse taking, or (2) in the alternative, that the contractors negligently damaged the property. Settlement terms confidential.
Settlement of a TxDOT takings case involving a strip-taking of frontage from an approximately 15-acre industrial site along FM 148 in Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas. The State’s first appraiser believed the taking from the frontage had no impacts to the remainder, but after considering the landowner’s position, the State later correctly appreciated the waterfall affects the taking had on the remainder interior of the property. The Initial Offer amount of $102,730 was increased to a final net recovery amount of $1,701,900.
2023
Settlement of a TxDOT taking along FM 1461 in Celina, Texas for a successful real estate developer-landowner involving vacant land at a future commercial corner. The Initial Offer amount of $179,841 was increased to a final net recovery of $565,916. The case was settled before the condemnation lawsuit was filed.
Settlement of two contiguous TxDOT-identified parcels from the same landowner along FM 1461 in Celina, Texas (taking of vacant future development land). The combined Initial Offer amount of $277,999 was increased to a final net recovery amount of $513,589.
Settlement of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) case for the new Loop 335 Project in Randall County (Amarillo), Texas. The offer of approximately $23,093 was increased to a net recovery for the landowner of approximately $404,840.
Results in cases in which Matt Hurt was Lead Counsel (or materially assisted his other former partners) while at Dawson & Sodd, PLLC from April 2011 – May 2023
2023
Settlement of two NTMWD large diameter raw water transmission pipeline cases where NTMWD sought easements for a pipeline to transmit raw water from the Bois d’ Arc Reservoir to a treatment facility in Leonard, TX. The combined initial offer of $61,489 was increased to a final net recovery, after fees and expenses, of $299,048.
Settlement of two cases against Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative, Inc. who sought to obtain an easement for the construction of a new single-circuit 138-kV overhead electric transmission line. The initial combined offer in the two cases of $89,550 was increased to final combined net recovery after settlement in both cases of $1,028,794.
2022-23 FM 1461 residential cases
Settlement of four cases wherein TxDOT took land from backyards or side yards of residential properties along FM 1461 in Prosper and Celina for the widening of FM 1461 from two lanes to a future six-lane road. The combined offer of $468,839 was increased to a net amount of $924,384 to the four clients after fees and expenses.
2022
Settlement of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) case for the taking of approximately one mile of new right of way along one side of a county road for the creation of the new Loop 335 Project in Randall County (southwest Amarillo), Texas. The initial offer of approximately $146,936 was increased to a net recovery for the landowner of approximately $1,102,004.
Settlement of four Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) cases for the taking of land needed to construct four linear miles of the new Loop 335 Project in Randall County (southwest Amarillo), Texas. The cases involved a taking of (roughly) three linear miles of frontage along one side of the center of existing roads (in three of the cases) and, in another case, a taking of private property on both sides of the center of a county road. The combined initial offer of approximately $21,359,038 was increased by the landowner and his local counsel in Amarillo at the special commissioners’ hearing phase to $28,202,038. Part of the basis for the awards was the landowner’s testimony about lost business income unrelated to land valuation—something that would not have been compensable in those cases under Texas eminent domain law. As a result, the State of Texas (and the landowner) objected to all of the Special Commissioners Hearing awards, starting the cases over in the trial court, de novo. Thereafter, the landowner hired Matt to take over the four cases for trial or settlement. Thereafter, the cases settled for the combined net amount, after fees and expenses, of $30,805,917.
Settlement of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) case for the new Loop 335 Project in Randall County (southwest Amarillo), Texas. The taking involved land at a future commercial corner in the fast-growing southwest part of town. Part of the land being taken by TxDOT was in a playa lake (and flood plain), but with the ability to fill in portions of the playa lake in the future, a large part of the taking was, with minimal expense, still available for commercial development. The initial offer of $131,932 was increased to a final net recovery of $1,628,959 for the landowner.
Settlement of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) case along I-40 in east Amarillo, Texas. The taking involved the bisection and demolition of an existing commercial building at a hard commercial corner at Loop 335 and I-40. The remaining site after the taking was too small and geometrically impractical to be used after the taking for development — unless combined with land owned by adjacent landowners. The initial offer of $418,220 was increased to a final net recovery of $772,708 for the landowner.
Settlement of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) case brought for the LBJ East Expansion Project in Dallas County. The client owned and operated the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant at the southeast corner of Greenville Ave. and Loop I-635 in northeast Dallas. The client owned the building, but not the land. The taking resulted in the total taking and demolition of the restaurant building and a significant part of the land on the site. The client had a ground sub-lease of the site from an entity that held a very long-term ground lease of the entire site from the owner of the land comprising the entire site. In other words, the site owner had a long-term ground lease with a company that, in turn, had a ground sub-lease to Matt’s client, who constructed a restaurant building on the subleased premises long before the condemnation. During the case, Matt helped the restaurant operator negotiate the buy-out of the fee simple site ownership (paid out of pocket by the client). Thereafter, the client paid ground-lease rent to the ground lease landlord, who then had to turn around and pay its ground lease rent back to Matt’s client, the new landowner. Then, after negotiating a favorable settlement with TxDOT for the total compensation due in the case, Matt and his client negotiated to use part of the settlement proceeds to buy out the leaseholder. The result was that Matt’s client went from being a tenant with roughly $2M in restaurant improvements constructed on leased land, to owning the entire site forever—with the ability to re-construct the restaurant building without fear of having to turn the site over to a landlord at the expiration of a lease—losing the value of the improvements. The offer from TxDOT for the taking (made to all of the property interest holders before the ownership consolidation) of approximately $1,888,410 was increased to a Final Settlement for the landowner of approximately $2,396,657 (net of legal fees, and net of case costs, and excluding amounts landowner paid from the settlement and otherwise to acquire the ground lease and fee title to the land.
Settlement of an Inverse Condemnation Case filed by Matt against NTMWD and four contractors who worked on constructing the Bois d’ Arc Creek Reservoir and dam in Fannin County. The lawsuit alleged that, during construction, NTMWD inversely condemned a ranch a few miles downstream of the under-construction dam when a large rain event carried significant amounts of sand, silt, and dirt from the footprint of the reservoir site down Bois d’ Arc Creek onto the downstream ranch, damaging the ranch. The allegations were that either (1) NTMWD knowingly hired the contractors and knew their erosion control measures were inadequate, resulting in an inverse taking, or (2) in the alternative, that the contractors negligently damaged the property. Settlement terms confidential.
2021
Settlement of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) case brought by the State for the widening of I-35 in Denton County. The subject property was a commercial strip center in Sanger, Texas on the west side of I-35. Luckily for the landowner, the State of Texas hired an appraiser that understood from the outset that the taking was going to cause significant impacts and reduction in value to the remaining property. As a result, the State’s initial offer was not a “low ball” offer. While recognizing the damages to the site, the State’s appraiser was still low on the value of the property before the taking. The initial offer of $2,580,278 was increased to a final net recovery (after legal fees and expenses) for the landowner of approximately $3,071,368.69.
2019
Settlement of threatened NTMWD Bois d’ Arc Reservoir Cases. NTMWD sought to acquire land from a feisty group of landowners who held out for years from settling with NTMWD—NTMWD needed their lands for the future lake footprint. The landowners had hired other counsel to file an environmental case in federal court, challenging the legality of USACE’s issuance of the required 404 permit needed to impound WOTUS (waters of the United States) in the reservoir. Through mediation and other efforts, the combined initial offer to the landowners of $5,066,885 was increased to a net combined recovery for all landowners of approximately $12,497,150.
Settlement of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) case affecting a one-story office building in North Fort Worth for the expansion of I-35W. The taking imposed a denial of access line along the resulting frontage (after the taking) and took away two of the three driveways serving the property. The project was procured by TxDOT as a “Design-Build” project. The design-builder for the project was a joint venture (JV) between an American company and a Spanish company, “CINTRA,” related to Ferrovial. The engineer that designed the portion of the project affecting the subject property was from Spain and his engineering training was in Spain. Eventually TxDOT’s engineers agreed in depositions that the Spanish engineer’s design of the project made access to the remainder property unsafe—which drastically caused a reduction in the value of the remainder property. The offer of approximately $421,099 was increased to a net recovery for the landowner of approximately $1.48 million.
Settlement of a whole taking of multiple commercial and manufacturing buildings owned by a historic North Fort Worth manufacturing company on over 2.5 acres off North Commerce Street in Fort Worth for Tarrant Regional Water District’s controversial Trinity River Vision Project. The initial offer of $1.989 million was increased to a net recovery for the landowner of approximately $5.986 million (not including additional relocation benefits provided by TRWD to the landowner).
Settlement of a whole taking of a 30,000-square-foot commercial site with an existing commercial building that housed a business off North Main Street in Fort Worth for TRWD’s Trinity River Vision Project. The initial offer of $800,000 was increased to a net recovery for the landowner of approximately $1.65 million (not including additional relocation benefits provided by TRWD to the landowner).
Settlement of a case against Atmos Energy for the taking of a permanent surface site easement on top of a smaller a high-pressure natural gas pipeline easement for the surface construction of a metering station. The 10-acre property was purchased to be used as a future Methodist Church site in western McKinney, north of US 380. The offer of approximately $86,000 was increased to a net recovery for the church of approximately $238,000.
2018
Settlement of two cases for a family in Melissa, Texas against Atmos Energy for the taking of a gas pipeline easement along the property’s SH 121 frontage. The property lies at the southeast corner of SH 121 and Milrany Road, very close to the new Melissa High School. The initial combined offer in the two cases of approximately $242,000 was increased to a net recovery of $769,000.
Settlement of a case that resulted in the effective taking of all of the front parking from a historic and well-known business in Fort Worth along White Settlement Rd. for the Trinity River Vision Project. The initial offer was approximately $421,000, and the net recovery after fees and expenses for the landowner was approximately $1.11M. (2018).
Settlement of a taking from an auto repair business property along White Settlement Rd. in Fort Worth for Trinity River Vision Project. The initial offer of approximately $85,000 was increased for a net recovery for the landowner of approximately $322,000.
2017
Settlement of six different TxDOT highway takings cases for four landowners in Ennis (Ellis County), Texas involving the taking of land fronting along existing U.S. 287. The purpose of the project was for the widening and expansion of U.S. 287 along the southern and western sides of Ennis between I-45 and SH 34. The combined initial offers from TxDOT in the six cases of $942,991 was increased to a net recovery of just over $2.294 million (after litigation expenses and legal fees.
Settlement of a school site acquisition case involving land in Frisco, Texas by Prosper Independent School District (PISD). PISD sought to condemn a very valuable 35-acre future commercial corner site at the southwest corner of Hillcrest and Rockhill Parkway (now PGA Parkway) in north Frisco, Texas. The complicated settlement resulted in the conveyance to PISD of approximately 33 acres at a much more favorable site for the landowner south of the more valuable 35-acre corner site that PISD sought to condemn in the condemnation case. The settlement preserved the valuable corner tract worth between an estimated $11 million and $16 million at the time (for which PISD initially offered only $3,062,500). In addition to preserving the valuable corner for the landowner, Matt was able to obtain for the landowner the net amount of $4.063 million (after legal fees and expenses) for the inferior 33 acres-$1 million more than PISD offered for the 35-acre valuable commercial corner site. In addition, Matt negotiated a commitment from PISD to construct and bring water and sewer utilities to the remainder properties and the future commercial corner site, for the benefit of the landowner.
Settlement of a TxDOT highway case in Tarrant County involving the effective taking of all of the front two rows of parking spaces (and fire lane) from a restaurant site on the south side of SH 183 in Bedford, Texas. The site was being operated as a Twin Peaks restaurant. As a result of the taking, Twin Peaks terminated the lease due to the loss of parking and on-site circulation. The State’s initial valuations ignored negative impacts to on-site circulation, safety concerns, and the seemingly obvious fact that the parking spaces closest to the front door of the restaurant (all taken by TxDOT) were the most valuable parking spots for the restaurant site. The initial offer of $522,400 was increased to a net recovery of $1.503 million (after litigation expenses and fees).
Settlement (confidential amount) in an environmental damage case against a pipeline company that allegedly released waste materials created during its construction and testing of a new pipeline in Erath County. Matt did not represent the landowner in the initial acquisition of the pipeline easement (the landowner’s local lawyer did), but after the acquisition was complete and construction began, the landowners hired Matt to seek additional damages from the pipeline company for violations of the easement terms, including allegedly releasing arsenic contaminants onto the landowner’s property in and around the easement (construction) area. In addition to monetary compensation recovered, the pipeline company remediated the allegedly contaminated area.
2016
Settlement of a condemnation case for the taking of an easement for high-voltage overhead electric transmission lines. Matt represented Texas Municipal Power Agency (TMPA) a quasi-governmental entity that provides electricity to its member cities. The settlement resulted in a net recovery of $1.066 million, a 35% increase over the condemnor’s initial offer. The settlement was obtained quickly, with minimal expenses and before the condemnation lawsuit was filed. (2016) Matt settled another related case for TMPA months later in 2017 resulting in a net recovery of $992,000, which was approximately five times the initial offer.
2015
Settlement for a property owner in a TxDOT condemnation case involving the taking of a part of a vacant commercial property in Ennis, Texas (Ellis County) at the property just north of the corner of US 287 and SH 34. The settlement resulted in a $776,000 net recovery to the client, which was approximately 15 times higher than the initial offer.
Settlement for a property owner in a TxDOT takings case involving vacant commercial property in Ennis, Texas (Ellis County) at the intersection of US 287 and SH 34. The resulting settlement was a $1.16 million net recovery for the landowner, which was almost double the initial offer to the client.
2013
Matt assisted a former partner in her case involving a taking of a very profitable convenience store in Dallas along I-35E. Matt proved in a deposition of the State’s engineer that TxDOT did not have the right to condemn the property for the project, resulting in a voluntary dismissal of the case by TxDOT. The State’s engineer agreed that the Texas Transportation Commissions’ approval for the taking was if the property was needed for the I-635 expansion project, not the I-35E project, and that the property was not needed at all for the I-635 project, but might be needed in the future for the I-35E project. (2013).
Settlement involving a TxDOT taking of a commercial/retail building in Bedford, Tarrant County, Texas. The settlement amount was $1.394 million after legal fees and expenses, resulting in an increase to the landowner of approximately $548,000. (2013).
Others
Represented a national RV park owner whose Arlington, Texas location was partially condemned for the acquisition of a drainage easement along an existing creek that bisected the park.
Represented family owner of vacant development tract on Preston Road in Celina, Texas in condemnation case brought by State of Texas for widening of SH 289 (Preston Road). Case resolution involved both payment by State of additional compensation and construction of multiple commercial driveway locations on property at State’s expense.
Represented a landowner near Wills Point, Texas, in a federal case brought by Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) seeking to enforce a contract allegedly formed during UPRR’s efforts to acquire additional railroad right of way and to close existing at-grade railroad crossing. The case resulted in nearly fourfold increase in the previously negotiated contract amount.
Represented a rancher in southern Hardeman County, Texas impacted by Texas Express Pipeline.
Represented a recreational ranch owner in Grayson County, Texas against Seaway Pipeline in pipeline easement negotiations.
Results in cases in which Matt Hurt assisted Clint Schumacher when Matt and Clint were at predecessor firms to Locke Lord, LLP
2011
Jury verdict of $3,123,125 in a case brought by TxDOT for the widening of SH 183 in Irving. The TxDOT road widening project impacted a four-story office building in Irving. The jury’s verdict was more than 40 times the initial offer to the client, not including the client’s legal fees or litigation expenses. Matt cross examined several of the State’s engineers and gave the closing argument at the trial of the case. One of the State’s experts testified that it was permissible and safe if the local fire department was required to provide emergency services to the 4-story office building, after the taking, by driving hundreds of yards east into oncoming westbound traffic on the SH 183 frontage road—head-on into oncoming traffic. The state’s engineering expert testified that driving into oncoming traffic for hundreds of yards was still adequate for fire-protection of the building. The State appealed the final judgment, but the judgment was affirmed. The Texas Supreme Court denied the State’s petition to review the appellate court ruling. State v. Johnson, 444 S.W.3d 62, 79 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2014, pet. denied).
