1956

Cooper v. Norfolk Redevelopment & Hous. Auth.

Supreme Court of Virginia

197 Va. 653, 90 S.E.2d 788

At a hearing on just compensation before commissioners, the landowners attempted to call an expert who routinely did fair market appraisals for the Authority, and who did an appraisal when the landowners were trying to settle before trial. Authority objected, and trial court told expert that he did not have to testify if he did not want to. He chose not to, as expert did not want to upset Authority, and his appraisal was over $3,000 higher than Authority’s expert witnesses. Expert was excused, and commissioners awarded $3,000 less than appraisal of excused expert. Award was confirmed. Supreme Court reversed and remanded. As his opinion was made known to both sides in an effort to avoid a trial, it was no secret, and expert was assisting both parties. If his opinion had been favorable to the Authority, they might have introduced it. Landowners could have required him to testify on their behalf.

Back to Case Finder Main Page
Volume One Indexes:
To Case Name Index
To Topic Index
To Date Index
To Code Section Index