Geise v. American Transmission Co.

2014 WI App 72, 853 N.W.2d 564, 355 Wis. 2d 454, 2014 WL 2609912, 2014 Wisc. App. LEXIS 468
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedJune 12, 2014
DocketNo. 2011AP482
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2014 WI App 72 (Geise v. American Transmission Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Geise v. American Transmission Co., 2014 WI App 72, 853 N.W.2d 564, 355 Wis. 2d 454, 2014 WL 2609912, 2014 Wisc. App. LEXIS 468 (Wis. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

HIGGINBOTHAM, J.

¶ 1. This is an eminent domain case involving a taking by American Transmission Company LLC, and ATC Management Inc. (ATC) of 2.89 acres owned by Geise for an electric transmission line project. ATC appeals the circuit court's denial of ATC's motion to set aside the jury's verdict on the ground that the jury's verdict was not supported by any credible evidence, and that the jury ignored the court's jury instruction not to speculate about damages not in evidence. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that credible evidence supports the jury's verdict and that [458]*458ATC has failed to show that the jury disregarded the court's jury instruction. We therefore affirm the court's order denying ATC's motion to set aside the verdict.

¶ 2. Geise cross-appeals the circuit court's denial of his request for post-judgment interest. Geise argues that the circuit court's construction of Wis. Stat. § 32.06(10)(d) (2011-12)2 governing the award of post-judgment interest in non-transportation condemnation proceedings was unreasonable and that, properly read, Geise is entitled to post-judgment interest under the statute. We agree and reverse the circuit court's denial of post-judgment interest and remand to the court to determine the amount of post-judgment interest due Geise under the proper construction of § 32.06(10)(d).

BACKGROUND

¶ 3. Geise owns a 119.94 acre parcel of land in the Town of Waterloo. The property is zoned as an exclusive agricultural district and contains a residence, barn, silo, and other outbuildings.

¶ 4. ATC made a jurisdictional offer to Geise to acquire two easements, totaling 2.89 acres, for the construction and maintenance of a 138 kilovolt electric transmission line on Geise's property. Geise rejected the offer. ATC filed a verified petition with the Jefferson County condemnation commission for condemnation proceedings to acquire the easements. Following a hearing, the condemnation commission awarded Geise the amount that would represent just compensation for ATC's taking of easements by condemnation. Geise appealed the award of the condemnation commission to the circuit court.

[459]*459¶ 5. A three-day jury trial was held to determine the fair market value of Geise's property before and after the taking. Three expert witnesses testified at trial. Geise's only expert witness, Kurt Kielisch, testified that the value of the property before the taking was $995,000 and the value of the property after the taking was $880,000, and therefore the difference between the values was $115,000. ATC's expert witnesses, Aari Roberts and Scott MacWilliams, testified that the value before the taking was $939,300 and $880,200, and the value after the taking was $929,200 and $869,600, respectively. Thus, according to Roberts and MacWilliams, the difference between the before- and after-taking values of the property was $10,100 and $10,600, respectively. The evidence underlying the experts' opinions was primarily based on the sales comparison approach to property valuation, which "relies on comparing similar properties to the subject and adjusting them for differences."3 Johnson v. City of Greenfield Bd. of Review, 2005 WI App 156, ¶ 7 n.2, 284 Wis. 2d 805, 702 N.W.2d 460 (quoting another source).

¶ 6. At one point during the trial, a juror submitted a question to the court, asking whether Geise had previously received any compensation for, among other things, any "loss of use of [the] land" or "inconvenience." The juror also asked whether the jury's role was to determine "everything" for which Geise "should be compensated." With the approval of both parties, the court added to the end of two parts of a standard jury instruction that the jury should not "speculate about any damages which were not in evidence."

[460]*460¶ 7. The jury was asked in a special verdict to find the fair market value of Geise's property immediately before and immediately after the taking. The jury found that the value of the property before the taking was $1,176,580 and the value after the taking was $1,069,407, which resulted in an award in favor of Geise in the amount of $107,173.

¶ 8. ATC moved the circuit court to set aside the verdict and order a new trial. ATC primarily argued that the verdict was not supported by credible evidence because the jury's findings on value were not within the range of values placed in evidence. The court denied the motion on the grounds that: (1) the jury's findings were not "outrageous" because the jury was permitted to weigh the comparable sales evidence on which the experts based their opinions and to make adjustments to that evidence; and (2) Geise's "ultimate award," the difference between the jury's two findings, was within the range of the expert testimony.

¶ 9. Geise subsequently petitioned for an award of litigation expenses, including post-judgment interest. The circuit court entered an order denying Geise post-judgment interest under Wis. Stat. § 32.06(10)(d). The court interpreted § 32.06(10)(d) to mean that a party is not entitled to post-judgment interest where, as here, an appeal is taken to this court in a condemnation proceeding not involving transportation matters. Geise moved for reconsideration. The court denied the motion and entered an order for judgment. Geise cross-appeals.

DISCUSSION

I. ATC's Appeal

A. Credible Evidence Supports the Verdict

¶ 10. ATC argues that the jury's verdict is not supported by any credible evidence and therefore the [461]*461verdict must be set aside. Specifically, ATC argues that the only credible evidence admitted at trial was provided by the expert appraisers, and that, because the jury's before- and after-taking values did not fall within the range of values offered by the experts, the jury's verdict is not supported by any credible evidence as a matter of law. In support, ATC cites cases where the court sustained jury verdicts in which the jury found that the fair market value of the subject property was somewhere in between the values offered by the experts and thus "within the range of values" in evidence. See Weeden v. City of Beloit, 29 Wis. 2d 662, 669, 139 N.W.2d 616 (1966) (sustaining verdict where the fair market value "arrived at [by the jury] was well within the range of values placed in evidence"); see also James Madison Dev. Corp. v. State, 48 Wis. 2d 629, 637, 180 N.W.2d 597 (1970) (sustaining verdict that was "amply supported and .. . well within the range of values established by the valid expert opinion before the jury"). Because the values found by the jury exceed the values offered by the expert appraisers, ATC maintains that the jury ignored all of the credible evidence and instead "created its own wholly new opinion on value — one with absolutely no support in the record."

¶ 11. In response, Geise argues that there was substantial credible evidence to support the jury's values.

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Bluebook (online)
2014 WI App 72, 853 N.W.2d 564, 355 Wis. 2d 454, 2014 WL 2609912, 2014 Wisc. App. LEXIS 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/geise-v-american-transmission-co-wisctapp-2014.