Flawed Appraisals Would Not Allow a Determination of the Highest and Best Use of the Taken Land
The Third Department determined the appraisal reports submitted for both side were flawed such that the highest and best use of the taken land could not be determined. The matter was sent back to the Court of Claims. The court explained the operative principles:
When private property is appropriated for public use, just compensation must be paid, which requires that the owner be placed in the financial position that he or she would have occupied had the property not been taken … . Upon a partial taking of real property, an owner is not only entitled to the value of the land taken i.e., direct damages but also to consequential damages, which consist of the diminution in value of the owner’s remaining land as a result of the taking or the use of the property taken … . Damages must be measured based upon the fair market value of the property as if it were being put to its highest and best use on the date of the appropriation, whether or not the property was being used in such manner at that time … . Matter of State of New York…, 2014 NY Slip Op 05002, 3rd Dept 7-3-14