McDonald v. State

Memorandum. We would affirm the order of the Appellate Division, but find it necessary to clarify the proper basis for the result reached. The measure of damages for a partial taking of real property is the difference between the property’s value before the condemnation and the value afterward. To calculate the before-taking value, the Court of Claims upwardly adjusted the sales price of a comparable parcel by the depreciated cost of converting that parcel to use as a small animal hospital. Such an adjustment actually resulted in the finding of a replacement value, which value is only…