W. Va. Dep’t of Transp. v. W. Pocahontas Props., LP (Signed Opinion)
Annotate this CaseThe West Virginia Department of Transportation (DOH) filed a condemnation action against Western Pocahontas and Beacon Resources, Inc. seeking to take approximately thirty acres owned by Western Pocahontas and leased to Beacon to construct a portion of a highway. The circuit court granted DOH the right to take possession of the land. Beacon objected to the DOH’s valuation of the coal underlying the thirty acres of land taken. During trial, the owner of Beacon gave his opinion of the fair market value for Beacon’s lease based solely upon his opinion of the future profits of his business. The jury returned a verdict awarding Western Pocahontas and Beacon $24 million as just compensation for the mineral interest acquired by the DOH and for damages to the residue. The DOH appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred in refusing to instruct the jury to disregard lost business profits earned by Beacon when calculating just compensation. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the DOH was entitled to an instruction that the jury was not to consider evidence of Beacon’s lost business profits when assessing just compensation. Remanded for a new trial.
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