Enbridge Pipelines (East Texas) L.P. v. Avinger Timber, Llc

in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice HECHT, Justice WAINWRIGHT, Justice MEDINA, and Justice GUZMAN joined.

This case involves a dispute over the fair market value of acreage on which a gas processing facility is located. We must decide whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting an expert’s testimony that allegedly violated the value-to-the-taker rule, which prohibits measuring land’s value by its unique value to a condemnor in determining a landowner’s compensation. We hold that the expert’s testimony violated the rule because it impermissibly focused on the condem-nor’s…