Lapham v. United States

CHASE, Circuit Judge.

The appellant, in 1934, inherited from her husband about 420 acres of land in the town of New Canaan, Conn., which was worth $560,340. In 1936, under threat of condemnation by the State of Connecticut, which wanted a part of this land for highway purposes, she deeded 33.6837 acres of it to the State and received in return $198,-000. In the negotiations leading up to this conveyance the price was agreed to as a lump sum payment without any allocation by the parties of any part of it as so-called “severance damages” to the remaining land of the appellant.

In reporting her…