Measure of Damages for Taken Land Explained

In affirming Supreme Court’s acceptance of claimant’s appraisal of the land taken for public use, the Second Department explained the analytical criteria:

When private property is taken for public use, the condemning authority must “compensate the owner so that [the owner] may be put in the same relative position, insofar as this is possible, as if the taking had not occurred'” … . “The measure of damages must reflect the fair market value of the property in its highest and best use on the date of the taking, regardless of whether the property is being put to such use at the time” … . A property’s market value is defined as ” the amount which one desiring but not compelled to purchase will pay under ordinary conditions to a seller who desires but is not compelled to sell'” … . Moreover, “[i]t is necessary to show that there is a reasonable possibility that the property’s highest and best asserted use could or would have been made within the reasonably near future, and a use which is no more than a speculative or hypothetical arrangement may not be accepted as the basis for an award” …  Matter of Metropolitan Transp Auth, 2014 NY Slip Op 08027, 2nd Dept 11-19-14