§ 46-5-6. Jury assessment of damages €” Consolidation of claims for trial.

Any owner or person who cannot agree with the department of environmental management to the price for his or her estate or interest in any such land may, within six (6) months after personal notice of the taking, or if he or she has had no personal notice, within one year from the filing of the description, plat, and statement, apply by petition to the superior court for one of the counties in which the land is located, setting forth the taking of his or her land or his or her estate or interest in such land and praying for an assessment of damages by a jury. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause twenty (20) days€™ notice of the pendency thereof to be given to the department of environmental management by serving its director with a certified copy thereof, and, thereafterwards, the cause shall be conducted as other civil actions of law are tried including the right to except rulings, to move for a new trial and prosecute an appeal, and, upon recovery of final judgment therein, execution shall be issued therefor and shall forthwith be paid by the general treasurer out of the funds appropriated and available therefor, but the verdict and the judgment entered thereon shall not include any item of interest for any period during which such land is actually occupied or enjoyed by the owner or owners thereof. In case two (2) or more petitioners make claim to the same land or to any estate or interest therein or to different estates or interests in the same parcel of land, the court shall, upon motion, consolidate their several petitions for trial and frame all necessary issues therefor.