Texas Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline – Important Eminent Domain Issues

The Texas Supreme Court agreed to decide Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline, about which I have written before. The Court’s summary of the issues:

The primary issues in this case are whether (1) Texas law grants eminent domain authority to a pipeline owner shipping polymer grade propylene; (2) a pipeline shipping a product from the pipeline owner’s sole manager to an unaffiliated customer constitutes a public use; and (3) the landowner may properly testify that the highest-and-best use of the taken land is as a pipeline corridor, and value the land through comparisons to past, private pipeline easement sales.

Both parties have appealed. The Hlavinkas argue that HSC does not have eminent domain authority. HSC says Hlavinka’s testimony on value should not have been admissible.