Aladdin, Inc. v. Blackhawk County

In Aladdin, Inc. v Blackhawk County (562 N.W.2d 608[1997]), the Supreme Court of Iowa held that a condemnation award that deducted the estimated cost of cleanup from the value of the condemned land deprived the owner of just compensation. Therein, the court recognized that before a landowner can be held responsible for cleanup costs in Iowa, an action must be brought by the Department of Natural Resources (id. at 615, citing Iowa Code 455B.381-.399), or by a citizen (id., citing 455B.381.111), in a procedure that affords a property owner significant procedural safeguards that are not available in a condemnation proceeding. The court concluded that: "if this procedure was not followed and the value of the property condemned is reduced by the estimated cost of cleanup, the landowner will not receive just compensation because the award will be less than full value. In addition, the property owner will still have the same legal liability for cleanup cost as before." (id. at 615). Further, if it is proven that an owner is legally responsible for the complained of contamination and cleanup costs incurred, such costs can be recovered from the owner after the commendation proceeding (id.). The court also noted that traditional expert testimony as to fair market value based on comparable sales would be unavailable in most instances because of the difficulty in locating comparable contaminated property sales, which would result in the judge or jury being required determine just compensation by speculating as to the damages (id. at 616).