State Highway Commission v. Haehnle

The Haehnle’s appeal from a jury verdict awarding them $45,000 as just compensation for land the State Highway Commission took from them in order to expand 1-94. Many issues are raised for our consideration, and one of them necessitates reversal.

Error is alleged to have occurred in the judge’s instructions to the jury. An analysis of these instructions reveals that the jury was told that in order to consider the effects of rezoning on the value of defendants’ property, it was necessary that there be a "real probability” that defendants’ property could have been rezoned at the time of taking.…