High court says taxpayers may have overpaid in condemnation

Monday, April 12, 1999 | 10:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has voided a $9 million judgment awarded owners of two parcels that were condemned for the expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The high court said the jury was given wrong instructions and that taxpayers may have paid too much.

The case now returns to District Court for another trial on the value of the property owned by Briant Buckwalter, John R. Reese and several others.

At the April 1996 trial, experts for the landowners pegged the "highest price" at between $9 million and $9.7 million on grounds its best use would be as a hotel across the street from the convention center.

Appraisers for Clark County suggested the "most probable price" of the property, which contained apartment units, at $4.5 million. They claimed the parcel was too small for a casino and its best use was probably a retail-restaurant facility.

The court said District Judge Don Chairez "blatantly" ignored the law when he gave an instruction to the jury that it must consider the fair market value of the property as the "highest price" for the land.

The Supreme Court decision, written by Chief Justice Bob Rose and filed Friday, said Chairez was wrong when he declared unconstitutional the state law setting the "most probable price" standard.

"Using the 'highest price' instruction probably cost the taxpayers more than $5 million in this case because the landowners' valuation was based on a casino being built on the property, a scenario that was not probable," Rose said.