Fair

This is an eminent domain proceeding to condemn for freeway purposes several parcels of land belonging to the defendants on the east and west sides of Highway 101 in the City of San Jose. The trial court ruled that by the taking of the parcel on the west side of the highway, the defendants became entitled to severance damages. A jury found that severance damages amounted to $13,500 and that there were special benefits of $20,000 accruing to defendants’ property on the east side of the highway. The state appeals from that portion of the judgment for defendants holding that the special benefits to the property on the east side of the highway should not be offset against the severance damages accruing to the property on the west side. The principal contention is that this holding is erroneous because all of the property taken from defendants was part of the same “larger parcel” as defined by Code of Civil Procedure section 1248.

The facts are agreed. As stated above, defendants are coowners of lands on both sides of Highway 101 in the City of San Jose, at the Tully Road intersection. The state condemned portions of defendants’ properties on both sides of the highway in order to…