Opinion ID: 2592992
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Standard of Review or Standard of Proof

Text: Before leaving the subject of the expectations on remand, we must also address the standard of review or standard of proof to be applied in the district court. The focus of the trial de novo to which we have held the Water District to be entitled is reasonable value. The district court was correct in stating that the appraisers' award should not be overturned and replaced unless it falls outside a zone of reasonableness. He was not correct to the extent he determined that the appraisers' award must be upheld if supported by substantial competent evidence or that the Water District must overturn a negative factual finding, i.e., show an arbitrary disregard of undisputed evidence or an extrinsic consideration such as bias, passion, or prejudice. Both the substantial competent evidence and the negative factual finding standards are appellate standards of review generally unsuitable for application as standards of proof in a trial de novo. See, e.g., State v. King, 288 Kan. 333, 204 P.3d 585 (2009); Owen Lumber Co. v. Chartrand, 283 Kan. 911, 928, 157 P.3d 1109 (2007). Furthermore, to the extent the appraisers implicitly made any negative factual finding, they did so without discrimination between the Water District and the City. They adopted an amount somewhere between those advanced by the parties. As mentioned, the Water District concedes that it bears the burden of proving the appraisers' award unreasonable, as it is the party challenging it. The district court factfinder, whether ultimately a judge or a jury, must decide whether the Water District has carried that burden by a preponderance of the evidence, and, if so, the correct reasonable value, based on all of the evidence presented in the district court proceeding.