St. Charles Land Co. II, LLC v. City of New Orleans, No. 14-CA-101 (Dec. 23, 2014), involved the amount of compensation in an inverse case over 8.08 acres of New Orleans land used for the extension of an airport runway. The trial court determined just compensation at $30,740.
Here's the heart of the opinion:
Upon review of the record in its entirety, we find the trial court committed manifest error in valuing the property at issue as unimproved wetlands and canal bottom outside the levee protection system, or "wet." The first step in valuing appropriated land is to determine the highest and best use of the property. As discussed above, the current use of the property is presumed to be the highest and best use. However, the landowner may overcome this presumption by proving a different highest and best use based on a potential future use. See Exxon Pipeline, supra.At the time the property was appropriated, the 8.08 acres of land was not protected by a levee system and was considered "wet." However, as part of NOAB's runway expansion, NOAB constructed a levee that protected the property at issue. At trial, Landowners offered evidence that the 8.08 acres of land would have been protected by a levee regardless of NOAB's runway expansion project. Specifically, the Landowner offered documentary evidence that a levee, protecting the 8.08 acres, was to be constructed as part of a federal hurricane protection project. Mr. Bennett Oubre, one of the Landowners' appraisal experts, even testified that the anticipated federal levee system was well-known in the real estate market in 1987. The Landowners also presented evidence that although NOAB ultimately built the levee around the property, NOAB had to coordinate its efforts with the Army Corps of Engineers to align the levee with the federally planned levee system before it could obtain the required permits. Thus, the Landowners showed that the future use of the property was "high and dry."
Slip op. at 12-13. The court of appeals conducted a de novo review, and upped the amount of just compensation to $497,580. It also increased the attorneys' fee award from $40,000 to 25% of the compensation award ($124,395).
Note: our Owners' Counsel colleague Randy Smith and his crew at Smith Fawer represented the property owners.
St. Charles Land Co. II, LLC v. City of New Orleans, No. 14-CA-101 (La. App. Dec. 23, 2014)