LA PORTE, Ind. — The state of Indiana has been ordered to pay a woman more than four times the amount originally paid for some of her farmland used to widen a stretch of U.S. Highway 421.

 

A LaPorte County Circuit Court jury on June 28 awarded Janet McNair $254,388. McNair said she would not comment about the case until after Judge Tom Alevizos determines the amount of interest she’ll collect in addition to the judgment.

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), in exercising its eminent domain power, acquired the frontage of her property in 2010 to widen U.S. 421 in Westville to four lanes between the north and south junctions of Indiana 2, about 15 miles south of Lake Michigan.

According to court documents, the land totaling just over 10 acres consisted of 85 feet of frontage on the west side of the highway and 75 feet of frontage on the east side. INDOT went through with the acquisition as it is legally entitled to do, but McNair challenged the $60,500 given to her for the property.

She was asking for close to $900,000 for the ground adjacent to 150 acres of farmland in her family has owned since the 1960s. McNair did say she currently pays a man to farm the ground, used for

raising corn and soybeans.

According to court documents, the state’s offer was based on the average of three separate appraisals. Her attorney, Greg Kuchel of Schererville, argued the land was much more valuable because it was commercially zoned in an area with existing retail development and great potential for additional growth. He also said more than 15,000 vehicles a day travel that stretch of highway designated by the town of Westville as a future high-growth area.

Kuchel said the state-ordered appraisals were based on frontage of other properties within a 10-mile radius and not properly suited to base the value of his client’s ground. One site toward Union Mills had no development nearby and only a bumpy gravel road alongside it, while another parcel in the Wanatah area was unlikely to see any future retail or office space development because of industrial buildings on the site.

“We’re comparing, I think the phrase is, apples and oranges,” he said. 

 

Kuchel also alleged the appraisers, although viewed as independent, were too connected to the state because of previous work they performed for INDOT. “I think that affected their valuations,” he explained.

Christopher Serak, legal counsel in the case for the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, argued the appraisals were done by independent and experienced professionals. He also said frontage alone is not valuable unless it comes with the land attached to it. “Who’s going to say I want to buy just this strip of property?” he said.

Serak stated the value of the ground probably ranged from $110,000- $280,000, with the most accurate figure close to the lower end of that scale. When reached for comment after the verdict, he said he is prohibited from discussing cases and would not reveal if the decision will be appealed.