Whenever the Commissioner finds any article that is infested or reasonably believed to be infested or a host or pest exists on any property or is in transit in the Commonwealth, he may require full information as to origin, number and destination of same and, upon giving notice to the owner or his agent in possession thereof, seize, quarantine, treat, or otherwise dispose of such pest, host, or article in such manner as the Commissioner deems necessary to suppress, control, eradicate, prevent, or retard the spread of a pest; or the Commissioner may order such owner or agent to so treat or otherwise dispose of the pest, host, or article. The owner of any property destroyed or ordered to be treated or otherwise disposed of under this section may, in an action against the Commonwealth in the appropriate court, recover just compensation for any property so destroyed or the reasonable costs of disposal of any property so ordered if he establishes that the property was not a pest, or a host, or an infested article.
1975, c. 29, § 3.1-188.25; 1980, c. 291; 2008, c. 860.