3.2-705 - Authority for abatement and other emergency measures; compensation to property owners.
§ 3.2-705. Authority for abatement and other emergency measures; compensationto property owners.
Whenever the Commissioner finds any article that is infested or reasonablybelieved to be infested or a host or pest exists on any property or is intransit in the Commonwealth, he may require full information as to origin,number and destination of same and, upon giving notice to the owner or hisagent in possession thereof, seize, quarantine, treat, or otherwise disposeof such pest, host, or article in such manner as the Commissioner deemsnecessary to suppress, control, eradicate, prevent, or retard the spread of apest; or the Commissioner may order such owner or agent to so treat orotherwise dispose of the pest, host, or article. The owner of any propertydestroyed or ordered to be treated or otherwise disposed of under thissection may, in an action against the Commonwealth in the appropriate court,recover just compensation for any property so destroyed or the reasonablecosts of disposal of any property so ordered if he establishes that theproperty was not a pest, or a host, or an infested article.
(1975, c. 29, § 3.1-188.25; 1980, c. 291; 2008, c. 860.)