Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. Condemnation Litigation (1990)

Co-counsel representing Columbia and its sister companies in defense of condemnation by the United States of America of over 16,000 acres of property to which Columbia held mineral rights in southern West Virginia. The government offered approximately $5 million as reasonable compensation for its taking of the property, a sum Columbia felt was grossly insufficient. Following several years of discovery and the resolution of many pretrial issues, the case was tried before a special commission appointed by the court in lieu of a jury due to the complexity of the case. After a three-week trial, the commission entered a verdict for Columbia of over $51 million, then the largest verdict in West Virginia history.