View All People

Kraig A. Byron

Attorney

Photo of Kraig A. Byron

Kraig A. Byron

Attorney

Kraig Byron is a Shareholder in the Litigation & Risk Management Practice Group. Kraig offers many years of experience in the areas of complex business litigation, labor and employment litigation, outdoor advertising law, tax assessments, family law issues, anti-trust matters and general civil litigation. Kraig has been a featured speaker at continuing professional education courses on Wisconsin property law and other related legal issues.

Kraig has presented and argued many cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, the Western District of Wisconsin and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (See representative cases). He has represented and continues to represent national outdoor advertising companies before the State of Wisconsin, Division of Hearing and Appeals, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and the Wisconsin Supreme Court in cases involving property rights, eminent domain, just compensation and challenges to tax assessments.

Kraig has substantial experience in the area of eminent domain, otherwise known as condemnation. Sometimes the government’s need for property comes into conflict with the rights of those who own that property. If the government needs your property in order to take actions designed to protect or advance the health, safety or welfare of the public, it will have the right to take your property. When it does, the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and Article 1, Section 13 of the Wisconsin Constitution both provide that the government must pay just compensation for the property it takes. If your property is being taken for any of the following types of projects, Kraig has the experience to assist you:

  • highway or road project 
  • sewer or water project
  • high voltage transmission or power line project
  • gas pipeline project
  • urban renewal project
  • blight removal project
  • redevelopment project
  • mass transit, commuter rail, light rail, street car or trolley project
  • avigation or overflight easement near an airport
  • shoreline protection or restoration project
  • wetland protection or restoration project
  • floodplain protection project

If the condemnor is planning to take any of the following from you, Kraig has the experience to help you:

  • land
  • residential building 
  • commercial building 
  • farm building
  • industrial building
  • billboard or sign
  • driveway
  • access to a road
  • stormwater detention or retention basin
  • parking lot
  • landscaping
  • permanent easement
  • temporary easement
  • change of grade
  • rails to trails
  • private street
  • marketable sand, gravel, stone materials
  • lumber
  • crops

Kraig can also help if compensation for your property is affected by:

  • the applicability of TRANS 233 or TRANS 231
  • highway setback requirements
  • loss or modification of boat docks, wharves or boat houses
  • loss or modification of bulkheads 
  • loss or modification of riparian rights
  • denial or modification of subdivision plat or certified survey map (csm) or condominium issues
  • denial or modification of zoning permits
  • denial or modification of building permits
  • denial or modification of conditional use permits
  • denial or modification of legal non-conforming use rights
  • condemnation of private streets
  • loss of driveway or access to public streets

If you are being compelled to relocate your home, farm or business, Kraig has experience securing compensation for relocation costs, identifying suitable replacement properties and recovery of moving expenses.

  • University of Wyoming, J.D., with Honors, 1992
  • University of Wisconsin, B.A., 1985

  • Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit

  • Dane County Bar Association
  • State Bar of Wisconsin (Family, Litigation and Labor Sections)

  • “Wisconsin Cases That Every Eminent Domain Attorney Should Know And Understand”; UW Property Rights and Land Use in Wisconsin Symposium (2017)

  • In re Country Side Restaurant, No. 2013AP2215, 2014 WI App 83, 355 Wis. 2d 580, 851 N.W.2d 472 (Wis. Ct. App. June 25, 2014) (unpublished)
  • Lamar Central Outdoor, LLC v. Wis. Div. of Hearings and Appeals, No. 2013AP1188, 2014 WI App 38, 353 Wis. 2d 305, 844 N.W.2d 666 (Wis. Ct. App. Feb. 6, 2014) (unpublished)
  • In re Country Side Restaurant, 2012 WI 46, 340 Wis. 2d 335, 814 N.W,2d 159
  • Adams Outdoor Advertising, L.P. v. County of Dane, 2012 WI App 28, 340 Wis. 2d 175, 811 N.W.2d 421
  • Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. v. City of Milwaukee, 2011 WI App 117, 336 Wis. 2d 707, 805 N.W.2d 582
  • Adams Outdoor Advertising, Ltd. v. City of Madison, No. 2009AP1373, 2010 WI App 120, 329 Wis.2d 270, 789 N.W.2d 754 (Wis. Ct. App. July 8, 2010) (unpublished), pet. denied,2011 WI 15, 331 Wis. 2d 46, 794 N.W.2d 900