This paper discusses the power of expropriation of rights of way that pipeline companies in Louisiana may exercise. The paper first addresses the concept of expropriation, the competing principles that it implicates, and the statutes that allow pipeline companies to expropriate property. It then discusses the procedures that must be followed and the substantive issues that must be decided in expropriation proceedings. These issues include the authority to expropriate; the public purpose and the necessity of the proposed taking; the landowner’s compensation, which includes taking damages, severance damages and other damages; and judgments and appeals. The goal of this paper is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the principles of expropriation by pipeline companies and how the power of expropriation may be exercised.
About the author:
Gerald F. Slattery, Jr. is a shareholder in the New Orleans-based law firm of Slattery, Marino & Roberts. He represents corporations in the oil and gas industry in the defense of landowner and royalty owner actions, take-or-pay litigation, well blowout cases, personal injury and property damage claims, and contract litigation, including disputes involving mineral leases, servitudes, joint exploration agreements, farmout agreements, operating agreements, and drilling contracts.
The author has published on various aspects of oil, gas and mineral law, and has lectured at numerous energy industry-sponsored seminars and programs. He received a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School in 1978, where he was a Senior Fellow and Managing Editor of the Tulane Law Review, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in 1973.
A version of this article was published in Volume VI, Issue No. 1 (Fall 2017) of the Journal of Energy Law and Resources, a student-run journal of LSU Law School.
About the author:
Gerald F. Slattery, Jr. is a shareholder in the New Orleans-based law firm of Slattery, Marino & Roberts. He represents corporations in the oil and gas industry in the defense of landowner and royalty owner actions, take-or-pay litigation, well blowout cases, personal injury and property damage claims, and contract litigation, including disputes involving mineral leases, servitudes, joint exploration agreements, farmout agreements, operating agreements, and drilling contracts.
The author has published on various aspects of oil, gas and mineral law, and has lectured at numerous energy industry-sponsored seminars and programs. He received a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School in 1978, where he was a Senior Fellow and Managing Editor of the Tulane Law Review, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in 1973.
A version of this article was published in Volume VI, Issue No. 1 (Fall 2017) of the Journal of Energy Law and Resources, a student-run journal of LSU Law School.