Jury alternate says six-member panel wanted Town to pay $65 million
By Douglas McDaniel
In the parlance of the Old West, it was an ambush, a good, old-fashioned appraiser whoopin’.
After hearing the $50 million jury award for the Final Valuation Trial for the Town of Telluride condemnation case over the Valley Floor, the Town’s legal team responded to the decision by immediately leaving the scene of the severe legal defeat without comment.
On Friday the jury in the Final Valuation Trial for the Town’s Valley Floor rendered a verdict: $50 million for the 570-acre property, thrashing the Town’s effort to keep the price at almost half as much.
It took the jury just three hours of deliberations to reach a verdict in the nine-day trial.
After two working weeks at the Delta County Courthouse, the six-member jury sided completely with the price set by San Miguel Valley Corporation expert appraiser Larry Stark, apparently disregarding the Town of Telluride’s expert appraiser’s price of $26 million. On the ninth day of the trial, Thursday, the jury had gone into deliberations at 2:35 p.m., and had come to a verdict at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 16.
The Town should feel lucky. At the beginning of the day Friday, the jury had a price of $65 million written on the board. According to jury alternate Maxine Isley; the other jurors were supporting additional amounts. But she said the jury changed its mind when the question of whether or not there would be a mistrial declared if they went above the SMVC’s $50 million price tag.
Isley said the town’s case was given very little credence at all.
“There was not a lot of debate and I was disgusted with that,” said the resident of Hotchkiss who was able to participate in the discussions but not vote. “After we first went into deliberations everybody (the six voting jurors) asked for a show of hands, and they showed their hands that the corporation had proven its case. They pretty much had their minds made up when they left last night. I thought they would at least consider the evidence more.”
On Friday morning, the jury considered giving them more than $65 million, she said.
“They felt like the property was worth at least that much,” Isley said. “They all felt like $50 million was not enough.”
She said at one point in their deliberations the jury sent a question to San Miguel District Court Judge Charles Greenacre asking whether the Town had plans to develop the Valley Floor itself, or, whether it had the ability to develop it in the future. But the judge refused to have the question posed to the court on the basis of its irrelevancy, she said.
Many of the members of the jury, all property owners in Delta County, voiced strong opinions against government use of eminent domain to take land from the property owner, she said.
“There were people who were very aggressive in their opinions before we even went into deliberations,” Isley said. “They really had problems with the whole taking thing, that the government was taking land and not wanting to pay anything for it.”
In its closing statement Thursday, Feb. 15, the SMVC lawyers had disputed the Town’s assertion that the plan for one-unit per 35-acre lots was the highest and best use for the property. SMVC attorney Mikaela Rivera said the so-called “B plan,” 77 lots or approximately one unit per seven acres on the south side at a cost of $56.8 million, was preferred by San Miguel County and fit in with the Telluride Regional Master Plan.
Rather than believing Telluride attorney Leslie Fields’ closing statement that the landowner’s appraisal was a puffed up piece of fantasy, the jury (with the exception of the $6 million lopped off Stark’s highest appraisal) sided with the SMVC that such plans were realistic.“It’s a playground, a playground for the super rich,” SMVC lead attorney Darrell Waas said in his closing statement, adding that if the Town wants it for a playground, it will have to pay playground prices.
The jury was completely unmoved by Town appraiser Richard Chase’s rationale for his $26 million appraisal.
Apparently, it was not a playground price.
“They were not interested,” Isley said of the jury’s response to Chase and his calculations. “His comps were too old, they said. He knocked down the price for one (Sunnyside East) because he thought something was wrong with it (the final price). One guy (jurist) said that really ‘stuck in his craw.’ ”
In cross examination of Chase, SMVC attorney Darrell Waas successfully sought to portray the Town appraiser’s valuation approach as a mere attempt to play lowball, with oversimplified calculations drawn from a narrow field of comparable sales in the region.
Waas then critiqued Chase’s three appraisals for the Town beginning with a $15.5 million price in 2000, followed $19.5 million in 2003 and $25.9 million in 2006. Waas brought to light that there was a large increase in values between 2000 and 2006, and questioned why Chase did not use any sales in the Telluride Region after April of 2001. Chase’s comparable sales were an average of approximately six years old, while Stark’s were approximately two.
The jury decided to believe Stark. The Town’s efforts to show how many hurdles the SMVC would have to go through also left the jury unconvinced.
“They certainly didn’t spend time deliberating,” Isley said. “They didn’t go through the evidence of the town, or thought their point mattered … it seemed like they didn’t really like the town, that’s all I could tell you.”
While Telluride Mayor John Pryor said he was “disappointed in the jury’s award,” he discounted any talk about the Delta jury being tainted or unfair.
He said an appeal at this juncture is unlikely because of the expense.
“The award starts accruing interest at 8 percent,” he said. “If we went to trial again in another year that would be a half-million dollars.
“We can’t go through another trial. We just need to get more fundraising done.”
The Town has already approved the bonding for $20 million, and has approximately another $10 million in available from various fund raising efforts.
Immediately after the award was announced representatives for the San Miguel Preservation Partners, which is leading the outside fund raising efforts, were in a meeting to discuss the developments and prepared to release a joint public statement.The Telluride Town Council will meet in executive session on Tuesday, Feb. 20, to discuss the Valley Floor issue with its legal counsel.“Our community values this property greatly,” Pryor said. “We have a large fund raising effort ahead of us.”
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In the parlance of the Old West, it was an ambush, a good, old-fashioned appraiser whoopin’.
After hearing the $50 million jury award for the Final Valuation Trial for the Town of Telluride condemnation case over the Valley Floor, the Town’s legal team responded to the decision by immediately leaving the scene of the severe legal defeat without comment.
On Friday the jury in the Final Valuation Trial for the Town’s Valley Floor rendered a verdict: $50 million for the 570-acre property, thrashing the Town’s effort to keep the price at almost half as much.
It took the jury just three hours of deliberations to reach a verdict in the nine-day trial.
After two working weeks at the Delta County Courthouse, the six-member jury sided completely with the price set by San Miguel Valley Corporation expert appraiser Larry Stark, apparently disregarding the Town of Telluride’s expert appraiser’s price of $26 million. On the ninth day of the trial, Thursday, the jury had gone into deliberations at 2:35 p.m., and had come to a verdict at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 16.
The Town should feel lucky. At the beginning of the day Friday, the jury had a price of $65 million written on the board. According to jury alternate Maxine Isley; the other jurors were supporting additional amounts. But she said the jury changed its mind when the question of whether or not there would be a mistrial declared if they went above the SMVC’s $50 million price tag.
Isley said the town’s case was given very little credence at all.
“There was not a lot of debate and I was disgusted with that,” said the resident of Hotchkiss who was able to participate in the discussions but not vote. “After we first went into deliberations everybody (the six voting jurors) asked for a show of hands, and they showed their hands that the corporation had proven its case. They pretty much had their minds made up when they left last night. I thought they would at least consider the evidence more.”
On Friday morning, the jury considered giving them more than $65 million, she said.
“They felt like the property was worth at least that much,” Isley said. “They all felt like $50 million was not enough.”
She said at one point in their deliberations the jury sent a question to San Miguel District Court Judge Charles Greenacre asking whether the Town had plans to develop the Valley Floor itself, or, whether it had the ability to develop it in the future. But the judge refused to have the question posed to the court on the basis of its irrelevancy, she said.
Many of the members of the jury, all property owners in Delta County, voiced strong opinions against government use of eminent domain to take land from the property owner, she said.
“There were people who were very aggressive in their opinions before we even went into deliberations,” Isley said. “They really had problems with the whole taking thing, that the government was taking land and not wanting to pay anything for it.”
In its closing statement Thursday, Feb. 15, the SMVC lawyers had disputed the Town’s assertion that the plan for one-unit per 35-acre lots was the highest and best use for the property. SMVC attorney Mikaela Rivera said the so-called “B plan,” 77 lots or approximately one unit per seven acres on the south side at a cost of $56.8 million, was preferred by San Miguel County and fit in with the Telluride Regional Master Plan.
Rather than believing Telluride attorney Leslie Fields’ closing statement that the landowner’s appraisal was a puffed up piece of fantasy, the jury (with the exception of the $6 million lopped off Stark’s highest appraisal) sided with the SMVC that such plans were realistic.“It’s a playground, a playground for the super rich,” SMVC lead attorney Darrell Waas said in his closing statement, adding that if the Town wants it for a playground, it will have to pay playground prices.
The jury was completely unmoved by Town appraiser Richard Chase’s rationale for his $26 million appraisal.
Apparently, it was not a playground price.
“They were not interested,” Isley said of the jury’s response to Chase and his calculations. “His comps were too old, they said. He knocked down the price for one (Sunnyside East) because he thought something was wrong with it (the final price). One guy (jurist) said that really ‘stuck in his craw.’ ”
In cross examination of Chase, SMVC attorney Darrell Waas successfully sought to portray the Town appraiser’s valuation approach as a mere attempt to play lowball, with oversimplified calculations drawn from a narrow field of comparable sales in the region.
Waas then critiqued Chase’s three appraisals for the Town beginning with a $15.5 million price in 2000, followed $19.5 million in 2003 and $25.9 million in 2006. Waas brought to light that there was a large increase in values between 2000 and 2006, and questioned why Chase did not use any sales in the Telluride Region after April of 2001. Chase’s comparable sales were an average of approximately six years old, while Stark’s were approximately two.
The jury decided to believe Stark. The Town’s efforts to show how many hurdles the SMVC would have to go through also left the jury unconvinced.
“They certainly didn’t spend time deliberating,” Isley said. “They didn’t go through the evidence of the town, or thought their point mattered … it seemed like they didn’t really like the town, that’s all I could tell you.”
While Telluride Mayor John Pryor said he was “disappointed in the jury’s award,” he discounted any talk about the Delta jury being tainted or unfair.
He said an appeal at this juncture is unlikely because of the expense.
“The award starts accruing interest at 8 percent,” he said. “If we went to trial again in another year that would be a half-million dollars.
“We can’t go through another trial. We just need to get more fundraising done.”
The Town has already approved the bonding for $20 million, and has approximately another $10 million in available from various fund raising efforts.
Immediately after the award was announced representatives for the San Miguel Preservation Partners, which is leading the outside fund raising efforts, were in a meeting to discuss the developments and prepared to release a joint public statement.The Telluride Town Council will meet in executive session on Tuesday, Feb. 20, to discuss the Valley Floor issue with its legal counsel.“Our community values this property greatly,” Pryor said. “We have a large fund raising effort ahead of us.”
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