1984

Chaffinch v. Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. of Virginia, Inc.

Supreme Court of Virginia

227 Va. 68, 313 S.E.2d 376

Landowner filed suit sounding in tort for damages caused by Telephone Company, a public service company, when it entered his land without permission and cut down shrubbery. Trial court dismissed case on ground that landowner’s exclusive remedy was a declaratory judgment. While Va. Code § 8.01-187 supplied a means of just compensation by declaratory judgment for damage to property, it did not preempt the common law remedy against a company vested with the power of eminent domain. As the landowner retained the common law remedy to seek just compensation for property damaged for public use, the case was reversed and remanded.

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