If your property is located in the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's ACCESS Oklahoma Turnpike Plan, contact the Ritchie Rock & Atwood Law Firm for a free consultation. Our law firm has more than 40 years of combined experience in representing landowners in eminent domain cases and can help you understand your constitutional rights, and answer your questions and concerns about the eminent domain process.
ACCESS Oklahoma is the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's $5 Billion 15-year plan to improve and install new turnpikes throughout Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority will take property owner's land to build new turnpike roads in Cleveland, McClain, Oklahoma, Osage, and Tulsa counties. Further, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is widening the Killpatrick, Turner and Will Rogers Turnpikes.
Our law firm focuses on ensuring property owners protect as much of their land as possible and receive the maximum compensation for land the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority requires for the ACCESS Oklahoma projects.
Eminent domain, also known as condemnation, refers to the government’s sovereign power to take private property for a public purpose. It is a daunting power to be able to take a person’s private property against their will. It must be kept in check by the people. Abuses of this power by the government and private companies to whom the power has been given drastically affects the lives of the people involved.
Located In Pryor, Oklahoma
Mr. Ritchie has over 30 years of experience focused on representing landowners in condemnation cases. He has represented hundreds of clients across the state of Oklahoma in eminent domain cases involving highways, turnpikes, roads, power lines, pipelines and other public improvement projects.
Located In Shawnee, Oklahoma
Mr. Atwood has over 10 years experience representing landowners in eminent domain cases throughout Oklahoma. He previously worked at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and brings this valuable knowledge and experience in assisting property owners to obtain the most compensation for their land.
K. Ellis Ritchie is a primary member of the Owners’ Council of America, a broad network of dedicated lawyers working around the clock for landowners across the nation in all manner of takings cases. OCA was specifically founded to level the playing field in situations where private landowners find themselves pitted against powerful governmental entities with eminent domain powers and unlimited resources to get what they want—your property.
Primary membership within Owners’ Counsel of America is by invitation only and is limited to one Primary member per state. Each OCA Primary member has been carefully selected for membership based on ability, experience, results and dedication to representing private property owners in eminent domain, inverse condemnation, regulatory takings and other property rights matters.
When you retain an OCA Primary member, you have access to the collective legal minds, experiences and know how of every other OCA lawyer. As a result, not only are you getting a leader in the field of eminent domain and takings law, but someone who has the support and resources that only OCA membership can provide.
Legal challenges are often complicated matters which may involve a challenge to an entire project or an entire taking of a particular piece of property. In other cases, it may be a challenge to the extent of the amount of property being taken as exceeding the scope of what is “necessary” to the public purpose of the project.
In order for the government to take private property, they must pay the landowner “just compensation” for the land taken at its highest and best use value plus any damages to the remaining property and in many cases compensation for “relocation” issues. The objective of the law is to “make the landowner whole” for what he or she has lost.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority has a dedicated website with up-to-date information on the ACCESS Oklahoma plan. The website includes an interactive GIS map showing the plans's preliminary alignments and locations. The projects will soon begin initial engineering activities and are subject to change during this process. Any changes will be updated through the website: www.accessoklahoma.com
Right-of-Way is a generic term used in the eminent domain process for the land needed by a condemning authority to build their project. Sometime it means ownership and sometimes it means an easemen.
Once a government entity either negotiates an agreed upon purchase price for the private property or acquires the land through eminent domain, they are allowed to use the property for their project.