Opinion
No. 8603.
January 22, 1945.
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division; John P. Barnes, Judge.
Condemnation proceedings by the United States of America against 685.2 acres, more or less, in Lake County, Ill., and Grace M. Meeker and others. From a judgment based on the award for two of the parcels of land, the government appeals.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
Norman M. Littell, Vernon L. Wilkinson, and Walter J. Cummings, Jr., Department of Justice, all of Washington, D.C., and J. Albert Woll, U.S. Atty., and Clarence W. Beatty, Jr., Asst. U.S. Atty., both of Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Edna Hazel Beck, of Chicago, Ill., for appellees.
Before MAJOR and KERNER, Circuit Judges, and LINDLEY, District Judge.
This appeal pertains to an award for two parcels of land designated as 121 and 122 in a condemnation proceeding. The government used one witness, an expert appraiser, to establish the market value of the parcels in question. This expert testified that their value was $50 and $125 respectively. No evidence was introduced by the defendants. The jury did not view the property. The jury returned a verdict for $100 for parcel 121 and $250 for parcel 122. From a judgment entered on such verdict, the government appealed.
The only question before us is whether the judgment can stand in face of the uncontradicted evidence of the sole witness as to the value of the land. We do not think it can, and so hold. A jury verdict in a condemnation case not within the scope of the proof cannot be sustained. Forest Preserve District v. Folta, 377 Ill. 158, 163, 36 N.E.2d 264; Branson v. Reichelderfer, 62 App.D.C. 129, 65 F.2d 280; United States v. 2.4 Acres of Land, 7 Cir., 138 F.2d 295, 297.
The judgment is not supported by the proof and is, therefore, reversed and remanded with directions to proceed in conformity with the view herein expressed.