Skinner v. Polk County

This is an appeal by Polk County, defendantcondemnor, from a district court order fixing compensation of $10,441 for the taking of a 7-acre strip across plaintiffs’ farm for a new highway. The award of the commission or “sheriff’s jury” was $4921. Plaintiff-owners appealed to the district court where trial resulted in a jury verdict for the $10,441.

Plaintiffs’ farm, of 226 acres, is irregular in shape. The east boundary is straight, the west boundary uneven. It is about a mile long north and south. The south portion of about 150 acres is, roughly, a half mile wide, east and west. The north…