§ 32-24-1-11 — Notice of filing of appraisers' reports; exceptions to reports

(a) When a report of the appraisers is filed
with a court under this chapter, the circuit court clerk shall send written
notice of the filing of the report by certified mail to:
(1) all known parties to the action; and
(2) the attorneys of record of the parties.
(b) Any party to an action under this chapter aggrieved by the
assessment of benefits or damages in a report of the appraisers may file
written exceptions to the assessment in the office of the circuit court
clerk. Exceptions to the assessment must be filed by a party:
(1) after the report of the appraisers is filed with the court; and
(2) not later than forty-five (45) days after the date the circuit
court clerk mails the report under subsection (a).
(c) The cause shall further proceed to issue, trial, and judgment as
in civil actions. The court may make orders and render findings and
judgments that the court considers just. Either party may appeal a
judgment as to benefits or damages as in civil actions.
(d) Forty-five (45) days after the date the circuit court clerk mails
the report under subsection (a), and if the plaintiff has paid the amount
of damages assessed to the circuit court clerk, any one (1) or more of
the defendants may file a written request for payment of each
defendant's proportionate share of the damages held by the circuit court
clerk. The defendants making a request for payment must also file
sufficient copies of the request for service upon the plaintiff and all
other defendants not joining in the request. The defendants making the
request may withdraw and receive each defendant's proportionate share
of the damages upon the following terms and conditions:
(1) Each written request must:
(A) be verified under oath; and
(B) state:
(i) the amount of the proportionate share of the damages to
which each of the defendants joining in the request is
entitled;
(ii) the interest of each defendant joining in the request; and
(iii) the highest offer made by the plaintiff to each of the
defendants for each defendant's respective interests in or
damages sustained in respect to the property that has been
acquired by the plaintiff.
(2) Upon the filing of a written request for withdrawal and
payment of damages to any of the defendants, the circuit court
clerk shall immediately issue a notice to the plaintiff and all
defendants of record in the cause who have not joined in the
request for payment. The notice must contain the following:
(A) The names of the parties.
(B) The number of the cause.
(C) A statement that a request for payment has been filed.
(D) A notice to appear on a day, to be fixed by the court, and
show cause, if any, why the amounts requested should not be
withdrawn and paid over by the circuit court clerk to those
defendants requesting the amounts to be paid.
(E) A copy of the request for payment.
If a defendant not requesting payment is a nonresident of Indiana,
or if that defendant's name or residence is unknown, publication
and proof of the notice and request for payment shall be made as
provided in section 4 of this chapter.
(3) After a hearing held after notice of a written request made
under this section, the court shall determine and order the
payment by the circuit court clerk of the proportionate shares of
the damages due to the defendants requesting payment. Any of
the defendants may appeal an order under this subdivision within
the same time and in the same manner as provided for allowable
appeals from interlocutory orders in civil actions.
(4) If exceptions to the appraisers' report have been duly filed by
the plaintiff or any defendant, the circuit court clerk may not
make payment to any defendant of any part of the damages
deposited with the clerk by the plaintiff until the defendants
requesting payment have filed with the circuit court clerk a
written undertaking, with surety approved by the court, for the
repayment to the plaintiff of all sums received by those
defendants in excess of the amount or amounts awarded as
damages to those defendants by the judgment of the court upon
trial held on the exceptions to the assessment of damages by the
appraisers. However, the court may waive the requirement of
separate surety as to any defendant who is a resident freeholder of
the county in which the cause is pending and who is owner of real
property in Indiana that is liable to execution, not included in the
real property appropriated by the plaintiff, and equal in value to
the amount by which the damages to be withdrawn exceed the
amount offered to the defendants as stated in their request or the
amount determined by the court if the plaintiff has disputed the
statement of the offer. A surety or written undertaking may not be
required for a defendant to withdraw those amounts previously
offered by the plaintiff to the defendant if the plaintiff has
previously notified the court in writing of the amounts so offered.
The liability of any surety does not exceed the amount by which
the damages to be withdrawn exceed the amount offered to the
defendants with whom the surety joins in the written undertaking.
Each written undertaking filed with the circuit court clerk shall be
immediately recorded by the clerk in the order book and entered
in the judgment docket, and from the date of the recording and
entry the written undertaking is a lien upon all the real property
in the county owned by the several obligors, and the undertaking
is also a lien upon all the real property owned by the several
obligors in each county of Indiana in which the plaintiff causes a
certified copy of the judgment docket entry to be recorded, from
the date of the recording.
(5) The withdrawal and receipt from the circuit court clerk by any
defendant of that defendant's proportionate share of the damages
awarded by the appraisers, as determined by the court upon the
written request and hearing, does not operate and is not
considered as a waiver of any exceptions duly filed by that
defendant to the assessment of damages by the appraisers.
(6) In any trial of exceptions, the court or jury shall compute and
allow interest at an annual rate of eight percent (8%) on the
amount of a defendant's damages from the date plaintiff takes
possession of the property. Interest may not be allowed on any
money paid by the plaintiff to the circuit court clerk:
(A) after the money is withdrawn by the defendant; or
(B) that is equal to the amount of damages previously offered
by the plaintiff to any defendant and which amount can be
withdrawn by the defendant without filing a written undertaking
or surety with the court for the withdrawal of that amount.
[Pre-2002 Recodification Citation: 32-11-1-8.]

Legislative History

As added by P.L.2-2002, SEC.9. Amended by P.L.50-2012, SEC.1.