Opinion ID: 1690236
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Jury's Award

Text: ¶ 35. In State Highway Comm'n of Mississippi v. Havard, 508 So.2d 1099 (Miss. 1987), this Court quite thoroughly set forth the standard of review for jury verdicts in eminent domain cases as follows: As in the case of any other jury determination of damages, we are not at liberty to order a new trial unless the verdict is so at variance with the evidence as to shock the conscience of the court. Except where the verdict is grossly excessive and evinces bias, passion and prejudice by the jury, we have no authority to require the prevailing party to submit to a second adjudication. This rule applies in eminent domain cases as in others. See, e.g., Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Franklin County Timber Co., Inc., 488 So.2d 782, 787 (Miss. 1986); Trustees of Wade Baptist Church v. Mississippi State Highway Commission, 469 So.2d 1241, 1245 (Miss. 1985); Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Baker, 241 Miss. 738, 133 So.2d 277, 278-79 (1961); Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Ellzey, 240 Miss. 689, 128 So.2d 561, 562 (1961). We are particularly loathe to disturb a jury's eminent domain award where, as here, the jury has personally viewed the premises. Ellis v. Mississippi State Highway Commission, 487 So.2d 1339, 1342 (Miss. 1986); Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Terry, 288 So.2d 465, 466 (Miss. 1974); Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Turnipseed, 236 Miss. 764, 766-67, 111 So.2d 925, 926 (1959). We have gone so far as to suggest that, where the jury has viewed the property being taken, any substantial evidence in the record supporting the jury's damage assessment will preclude reversal in this Court. Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Franklin County Timber Co., Inc., 488 So.2d at 787; City of Jackson v. Landrum, 217 Miss. 10, 63 So.2d 391 (1953). Havard, 508 So.2d at 1105. In the case sub judice, the jury traveled from Tunica County to DeSoto County to view the property. It was presented with the testimony of two expert witnesses. One valued the property as a total parcel with only one possible use, using comparable sales figures that were largely discredited on cross-examination. See Fires, 693 So.2d at 923 (this Court encourages the judge to allow liberal cross-examination to permit testing of the true utility of comparable sales ... [h]owever, if the evidence shows that the comparables are entirely different from the property taken, then the valuation should be discredited.). The other testified that the property had more than one highest and best use; that part of it was suitable for large-scale commercial development and part, at the intersection of Goodman and Pleasant Hill Roads, should be valued at the higher price commanded by high intensity commercial property. Among the many comparable sales figures presented was the January, 1992 sale of a high intensity parcel across the intersection from the landowners' property for an adjusted price of $3.67 per square foot. There is substantial evidence in the record to support the jury's findings. Further, we cannot say, nor does the Commission present any evidence to suggest, that the jury's award is the result of bias, passion or prejudice, or that it should shock the conscience of this Court.