United States v. 4.0 Acres of Land

Allan J. Norville, a property owner in Tucson, Arizona, sought just compensation for his land that the United States condemned for a new federal courthouse building. After the first jury awarded $2.5 million, the district court granted Nor-ville’s motion for a new trial.

Upon retrial, the second jury returned a verdict of $8.4 million. On appeal, the United States asserts that the original jury verdict should not have been set aside and that the court’s evidentiary rulings in the second trial deprived the jury of key information necessary to determine just com *1136 pensation. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We conclude that the district court erred in granting a new trial; we reinstate the original jury verdict.

FACTUAL and PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Developer Allan J. Norville (“Norville”) owns 11 acres of land on the west side of downtown Tucson, Arizona. In 1994, the General Services Administration identified the four-acre northwest corner of Nor-ville’s 11-acre property for a new federal courthouse. Located at the corner of Congress and Granada Streets, the property is five blocks from the existing courthouse, and is vacant except for a parking lot on one…