February 8, 2024

Bybee and Tibbals Present at Land Use Law in South Carolina Seminar in Charleston.

Rick Bybee and Jeff Tibbals served as panelists for the continuing legal education program “Land Use Law in South Carolina” on Thursday, February 8, 2024, on the topic of “Eminent Domain, Inverse Condemnation, and Regulatory Takings.” This seminar presented the various legal and regulatory mechanisms used to plan and regulate growth, real estate development, and other impacts from changes in the use of public and private property.

February 3, 2024

Jeff Tibbals Selected as South Carolina Primary Member of Owners Counsel of America.

Jeff Tibbals has been selected as the South Carolina member of Owners’ Counsel of America (OCA), an exclusive national organization of leading eminent domain attorneys. Tibbals is an eminent domain trial attorney who represents property owners facing the taking of their private property by a governmental entity through the power of eminent domain. The takings process, also known as condemnation, is typically initiated to convert private property to a public use, and the determination of the just compensation owed to the landowner (a constitutional right) is critical. OCA’s standards for adding new members are rigorous, entailing detailed examination of the types of cases handled, and considering the percentage of eminent domain cases undertaken on behalf of property owners rather than government entities.

February 1, 2024

Jeff Tibbals Presents at ALI CLE Program, Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation 2024, in New Orleans.

Jeff Tibbals served on the faculty at the 41st Annual Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation 2024 CLE Conference, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, February 1, 2024. His presentation, given with attorney Diane Feuerherd and MAI appraiser Andrew Lines was entitled “Opportunity Zone: Determining the Highest and Best Use in an Area of Urban Renewal” and focused on representing landowners who own property subject to condemnation in rapidly changing neighborhoods.

September 16, 2021

Dominion Energy Condemnation Case Among Boom in SC property Value Disputes

Charleston-area landowners are increasingly fighting back in property condemnation cases, often getting much more money than originally offered by the utilities and government agencies looking to take their land for public projects.

September 13, 2021

Utility to Pay $3.25M For Strip Of Land in Charleston

A landowner has reached a $3.25 million settlement with a public utility over the utility’s condemnation of a 1.33-

acre strip of land in Charleston, the landowner’s attorneys report.

Richard Bybee and Jeff Tibbals of Bybee & Tibbals in Mt. Pleasant report that their client, Xiphias Holdings, objected to the valuation of multiple parcels of land located where South Carolina Electric and Gas Company wished to construct a transmission line for the new Hugh Leatherman Terminal.

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MARCH 30, 2021

DEVELOPERS SETTLE EMINENT DOMAIN CLAIM FOR $3.25M

The South Carolina Department of Transportation has paid $3.25 million to settle an eminent domain claim with property developers after it installed a median that limited access to an 80-acre tract in Berkeley County, the developers’ attorneys report. Richard Bybee and Jeffrey Tibbals of Bybee & Tibbals of Mount Pleasant report that the DOT filed the condemnation action in 2016 so it could build a new mile-long median on Clements Ferry Road, which fronts the property. The property’s owners had planned to develop the 80 acres into a retail anda housing development, Bybee said.”

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October 19, 2020

CASE OVER FUTURE OF ERODING FOLLY BEACH LAND HEADS TO APPEAL

Jeff Tibbals of Bybee & Tibbals secured the dismissal of a Complaint brought by the City of Folly Beach and other special interest groups, against his clients, oceanfront Folly Beach lot owners, alleging that some of their property was owned in public trust, as though the property was subject to condemnation.  Although Tibbals achieved victory for his clients in Court, the parties ultimately agreed upon a settlement which set aside a portion of the disputed property for Folly Beach Nature Conservancy, in a resolution driven by the best interests of his clients, and “moral and public interest grounds.”

October 18, 2020

WHY HIGHWAYS WERE DESIGNED TO RUN THROUGH BLACK COMMUNITIES. SC FACES HISTORIC DILEMMA AGAIN.

In the Sunday feature article of the Charleston Post & Courier, Jeff Tibbals of Bybee & Tibbals provided commentary relating to eminent domain law in South Carolina, and how its application has often led to displacement and division of historic and predominantly Black communities.  “Money talks, and sometimes poor communities with less don’t have a voice,” Tibbals said.

January 15, 2020

Summerville to purchase nearly 30 acres near Woodlands Mansion for $6.5 million

Representing the Town of Summerville in separate condemnation and inverse condemnation actions relating to the Town’s extension of N. Maple Street, Bybee & Tibbals fosters a unique settlement resolution. After negotiations for payment of just compensation for the Town’s condemnation of a 3.61-acre portion of a larger parcel came to a standstill, the Town reached an agreement with the landowner to purchase the entire 30.67 acres of property with plans for future use to potentially include green space and municipal facilities.

January 15, 2020

Colonial-era documents help SC landowner claim marsh ownership

Jeff Tibbals recently prevailed at trial on behalf of a landowner seeking to confirm title to marsh surrounding a 3 acre island near Kiawah Island, South Carolina. The case was decided on the basis of a King’s Grant from 1774. Read the Charleston Post & Courier’s article reporting on the case.

December 10, 2018

Charleston-area memos and distinctions

Jeff Tibbals, a real estate and eminent domain attorney at Mount Pleasant-based law firm Bybee & Tibbals LLC,
has been appointed chair of the pro bono board of the South Carolina Bar.

October 30, 2018

Jeff Tibbals (Past Recipient of 40 under 40 Class of 2009)

“Tibbals to Lead Pro Bono for SC Bar” Jeff Tibbals has been appointed as Chair of the Pro Bono Board
of the South Carolina Bar.

April 30, 2018

Hilton Head National’s proposed luxury RV park

The owners of a divisive Bluffton golf course have released more details about their plans for a luxury RV park
even as their lawsuit against Beaufort County and its zoning regulations continues.

February 2018

Charleston County Bar

Bybee & Tibbals, LLC announces that Evan P. Williams has joined the firm…

October 03, 2017

Beaufort County killed plans for this massive Bluffton development

The fight over the future of the Hilton Head National Golf Club — previously confined to Beaufort County Council and planning board hearings — has moved to the courts…

January 17, 2014

Lumber Company Wins $4.85M Settlement from DOT

When buildings age, they often lose a little bit of their value as the accumulated wear and tear makes them less attractive to prospective buyers. But one lumber and millwork company in Charleston argued that the advanced age of its plant actually made it more valuable because it had a grandfathered exception to a number…

February 27, 2012

Blocked Driveway Equals Unlawful Taking

Henry Frampton and his wife had things worked out just fine with properties they owned on Folly Road in Charleston. She owned the parcel where they lived, and he owned the one next door, which they used as a rental property. They had no trouble finding tenants — until the S.C. Department of Transportation began a bridge replacement project which involved putting a guardrail directly in front of the driveway on that lot.

January 14, 2008

Future Freeway Expansion

A Charleston County jury in a highway department takings case gave the owner of a Johns Island tract exactly what it asked for: $5.34 million. The verdict came Dec. 4 in a dispute over what the state Department of Transportation owed for condemning a swath of riverside property needed to extend Interstate 526, also known as…

March 31, 2003

Phantom Midges

Town Must Pay For Midge Swarm From Wastewater Treatment Plant – Neighbors Win Inverse Condemnation Verdict