Harlan

This case involves a dispute between a landowner and the state regarding the terms of an agreement under which the state took possession of land to build highway improvements. The landowner, a farmer, sued to enforce a provision he contends required the state to build an underpass beneath the improved highway to link parts of his farm on both sides of the road—an underpass that was never built. In his appeal, he contends that the trial court erred in (a) interpreting the agreement as imposing on the state only a duty to negotiate in good faith toward the *870 building of an underpass, not a duty to build one; (b) limiting the owner’s damages to the cost of pursuing the fruitless negotiations (i.e., attorneys’ fees); and (c) ruling that he was not entitled to an order directing the state to build the underpass.

The state cross-appeals, arguing that the landowner’s suit should have been barred for several procedural reasons, that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s $40,000 verdict for failure to negotiate in good faith, and that certain evidentiary rulings and the refusal of a jury instruction were erroneous. We reject both parties’ contentions and affirm…