Title: DOT v. David C. Blevins
Citation: 363 N.C. 649
Docket Number: 59A09
State: north-carolina
Issuer: north-carolina Supreme Court
Date: November 6, 2009

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA
No. 59A09
FILED: 6 NOVEMBER 2009
NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
v.
DAVID C. BLEVINS 
Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the
decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C.
App. ___, 670 S.E.2d 621 (2009), affirming a judgment entered on
17 September 2007 by Judge J. Marlene Hyatt in Superior Court,
Haywood County, and dismissing defendant’s cross-appeal from that
judgment.  Heard in the Supreme Court 9 September 2009.
Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Martin T. McCracken,
Assistant Attorney General, for plaintiff-appellant.
Van Winkle, Buck, Wall, Starnes and Davis, P.A., by
Jones P. Byrd and Matthew W. Kitchens, for defendant-
appellee.
PER CURIAM.
As to the issue of whether the trial court abused its
discretion by allowing evidence of the effect of the creation of
a traffic median, which is an exercise of police power, we
believe after reviewing the evidence presented at trial that the
references were de minimis and thus not prejudicial.  We affirm
the decision of the Court of Appeals except that, in accordance
with Barnes v. North Carolina State Highway Commission, 257 N.C.
507, 126 S.E.2d 732 (1962), we disavow the following language in
the Court of Appeals opinion:
-2-
Evidence of the construction of the
traffic median near Blevins’
property could have been considered
in the context of the purpose and
use of the taking as well as
generally considered in determining
whether the taking rendered
Blevins’ property less valuable. 
E.g., DOT v. M.M. Fowler, Inc., 361
N.C. 1, 14, 637 S.E.2d 885, 895
(2006) (a jury may consider the
adverse effects of a condemnation
on a business, not as a separate
item of damage but rather a
circumstance tending to show the
diminution in the over-all fair
market value of the property).
DOT v. Blevins, __ N.C. App. __, __, 670 S.E.2d 621, 625 (2009).  
MODIFIED AND AFFIRMED.