Opinion ID: 2521667
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the regents negotiated in good faith.

Text: ¶ 28 Finally, the landowner insists that the Regents negotiated in bad faith because they: 1) they used third parties to initiate negotiations; 2) and held a public meeting announcing that it would resort to eminent domain proceedings if necessary. The Regents contend that they have acted in good faith. A review of the record reflects that the gravamen of the landowners' complaint has more to do with the fact that the Regents did not readily succumb to their demands or that the Regents may have paid some other landowners more than the market value. Whether the Regents paid two, three, or four times the market value for any particular property has nothing to do with the issue of bad faith as far as negotiation with the McCloskey Brothers is concerned. As long as the Regents met the minimum constitutional standards for compensation and did not violate any other state law, there was nothing to preclude them from paying as much as they wanted for properties, but paying more than market value does not in and of itself constitute bad faith. There was no evidence presented which reflects bad faith behavior on behalf of the Regents. The landowners' argument is this regard is unpersuasive.