Chapter 8: Real and Personal Property
Answers to Select Case Questions
3. Damage to the value of plaintiffs’ property by road construction does not support an action for inverse
condemnation. There was no taking subject to compensation. Inverse condemnation occurs when the
government has taken private property for public use without formal condemnation proceedings by the
governmental taker. There was no taking in this instance.
5. To state a cause of action for breach of an implied warranty of habitability, a tenant must show: 1) entry
into a lease for residential property; 2) the subsequent development of dangerous or unsanitary
conditions on the premises materially affecting the life, health, and safety of the tenant; 3) reasonable
notice of the defects to the landlord; and 4) subsequent failure to restore the premises to habitability. The
wiring problem was not trivial and was not repaired in a timely manner to allow occupancy by the
beginning of the lease. The landlord was aware of the defect before the house was ever rented.
7. This was a tort of conversion by denying Rouse the use of his car that he had the right to use. To hide
something and then return it is conversion. The car was converted, the keys were part of the car. Added
to that was the tort of false imprisonment. Rouse was prevented from leaving of his free will as he had the
right to do. He was "trapped" waiting for his keys, which were taken to detain him in the hope that he
might buy a new car. The judgment was upheld.
9. The Oregon high court upheld a jury award of $7,818 in compensatory damages for lost revenues from
the suspension of operations and $50,000 in punitive damages. The cause of action was trespass to
personal property. The owners of the property were deprived of the use of their property for a period of
time. The trespass was not excused as free speech.