§ 504. Complaint; service; answer
(a) Verified complaint. If a property owner has not entered into an agreement stipulating to the necessity
of a taking and the public purpose of a highway project, and the Agency wishes to
proceed with the taking, the Agency shall file a verified complaint in the Civil Division
of the Superior Court in a county where the project is located seeking a judgment
of condemnation. The complaint shall name as defendants each property owner who has
not stipulated to a proposed taking, and shall include:
(1) Statements that the Agency has complied with subsection 503(d) of this chapter.
(2) The Agency’s written determination of necessity.
(3) A general description of the negotiations undertaken.
(4) A survey of the proposed project, and legal descriptions of the property and of the
interests in the property proposed to be taken. As used in this subdivision, “survey”
means a plan, profile, or cross section of the proposed project. The survey and legal
descriptions served upon the property owner only need to include the particular property
or properties at issue.
(b) Service and notice.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the Agency shall serve the complaint
and summons in accordance with the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure and section 519
of this chapter.
(2) The Agency shall publish a notice of the complaint, the substance of the summons,
and a description of the project and of the lands to be taken in a newspaper of general
circulation in the municipalities where the project is located, once a week on the
same day of the week for three consecutive weeks. The Agency shall mail a copy of
the newspaper notice to the last known address of an interested person not otherwise
served, if any address is known. Upon affidavit by the Secretary that diligent inquiry
has been made to find all interested persons and, if applicable, that service on a
known interested person cannot with due diligence be made in or outside the State
by another method prescribed in Rule 4 of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure, the
newspaper publication shall be deemed sufficient service on all unknown interested
persons and all known interested persons who cannot otherwise be served. Service by
newspaper publication is complete the day after the third publication.
(3) Unless otherwise served under subdivision (1) of this subsection, the Agency shall
mail a copy of the complaint to the clerk, legislative body, and board of listers
of each municipality in which land is proposed to be taken. The clerk with responsibility
over the land records shall record the copy of the complaint (including the survey),
and shall enter the names of the property owners named in the complaint in the general
index of transactions affecting the title to real estate.
(c) Necessity, public purpose; default. If an interested person does not file a timely answer denying the necessity of a taking
or the public purpose of the project, the court may enter a judgment of condemnation
by default. (Added 1985, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1993, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 21; 2011, No. 126 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2019, No. 59, § 22; 2021, No. 20, § 92.)