Jim Wagner began working with Steve Helm & Associates on eminent domain and real estate related litigation in 2002 and the firm began working under the name Helm & Wagner in 2007. Jim obtained his undergraduate degrees from the University of Iowa in 1997 and his law degree from the University of Denver in 2000.
Jim devotes a large majority of his practice to eminent domain litigation and has had the opportunity to represent property owners in eminent domain matters in Will, DuPage, Cook, Kane, Kendall, and Lake Counties. Jim has tried eminent cases in in both state and federal court, and he has been successful representing property owners in the Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Supreme Court.
Jim has a great deal of experience representing owners with all types of properties including community shopping centers, retail strip centers, office buildings, industrial properties, restaurants, apartment buildings, outdoor storage facilities, parking lots, vacant development land, agricultural land, golf courses, and single-family residential properties located throughout the Chicago suburbs.
Jim Lives in Will County and has a particular interest in working with properties in the Naperville, Plainfield, and Joliet areas. Jim has an exceptional record of achieving positive results for his clients. He has obtained trial verdicts and settlements in excess of a million dollars for his clients on several occasions. Notably, Jim achieved a $1.8 million settlement on behalf of the property owner in a DuPage County case (2010 ED 10) in which the government’s initial offer was $495,000. IDOT agreed to settle the case on the eve of trial when it became clear through the owners’ motions in limine that both of IDOT’s real estate appraisers would likely be barred from testifying at trial.
Jim also completed a $1.7 million settlement on behalf of a Will County property owner (2006 ED 23) in which the government’s initial offer was $265,000. The property being acquired was a vacant 29-acre parcel that contained significant amounts of floodplain and wetland. Jim successfully argued that the property’s wetlands were not under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and that mitigation efforts would minimize onsite floodplain. As a result, the property was available for light industrial development rather than use for open space.
Jim also prepared appellate briefs and presented oral argument on behalf of a DuPage County property owner before both the Second District Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court in Forest Preserve District of DuPage County v. First National Bank of Franklin Park, 2011 IL 110759. As a result of this work, Jim achieved a landmark reversal of the trial court’s ruling in both the Appellate and Supreme Courts which overturned more than one hundred years of Illinois precedent regarding the appropriate date of valuation in Illinois eminent domain proceedings.
Education
J.D., University of Denver, 2000
Admitted
State of Illinois, 2000
U.S. District Court, N.D., 2001 - Trial Bar, 2005
United States Supreme Court, 2012
Publications & Presentations
“Eminent Domain: A New Valuation Timetable” Illinois Bar Journal, September 2012
An Introduction to Eminent Domain Panel Discussion - Will County Farm Bureau Association - Illiana Expressway - May 2013