Opinion
June 28, 1967
Appeal by the State from a judgment of the Court of Claims which made an award for the appropriation of land pursuant to section 30 High. of the Highway Law. Claimant owned a dairy farm of over 100 acres on Washburn Road in the Towns of Wilton and Moreau, Saratoga County. The State took a strip of approximately 28 acres which cut across the entire premises severing the same amount of land as that taken and leaving it without access. All improvements, including a residence and the farm buildings, were left on the remaining acreage. The highest and best use before the taking was a dairy farm and after the appropriation as a residence and part-time farm. Each side called one expert. The testimony leaves something to be desired, but we can see no useful purpose in reversing the award as the record does contain sufficient evidence upon which an award can be based. (See Kakulski v. State of New York, 26 A.D.2d 958; Vircillo v. State of New York, 24 A.D.2d 534; Wood v. State of New York, 23 A.D.2d 807.) We find that the fair and reasonable market value before the appropriation was $25,000; that the value after the taking was $13,300; and total damages to claimant of $11,700, consisting of direct damages in the sum of $4,200 and consequential damages of $7,500. Judgment modified, on the law and the facts, so as to reduce the award to $11,700 and appropriate interest and, as so modified, affirmed, without costs. Gibson, P.J., Reynolds, Aulisi, Staley, Jr., and Gabrielli, JJ., concur in memorandum by Aulisi, J.