Real Estate & Property Law

Judge orders DOT to pay more

By Alan Ackerman

News Times

Those valuations varied wildly -- $2.4 million to $4.1 million from the state's experts and $25 million to $29.1 million from Rock Acquisition's appraisers.

Rock Acquisition LP was represented by lawyers Jay Skelton of Fairfield and Bart Halloran of Farmington.

Skelton said it took 13 years from the day the eminent domain process started to the day of Sheedy's verdict. "We never doubted we would win the case," Skelton said. "The only question was what the award would be. We were very confident in our experts."

He said during the course of litigation, two internal DOT memos were discovered in which senior DOT employees recognized the value of the quarry at between $25 and $30 million.

In her decision, Sheedy said because the land's most favorable use would have been as a quarry, the central question in the case was how much the minerals on the property were worth.

She found that neither of the two experts retained by the state demonstrated "preparation, experience, or professional credentials to render a fair valuation," and further found that their testimony was "offered solely to minimize the quarry's value." Sheedy also found fault with the $25 million valuation offered by one of the Rock Acquisition witnesses, saying his methodology was "unreliable" and "beggars credulity."  Connecticut Post August 4, 2009.

It often takes true effort and years of patience to prove that, the methodology utilized by a governmental agency is simply wrong.  The great discovery process and a gutsy fair minded judge sure does help!  The problem in most jurisdictions is that the interest, which is paid, is simple rather than compound.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on August 15, 2009 (boomark / email).