First Bank & Trust Co. v. Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner

SENIOR JUSTICE STEPHENSON

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The dispositive issue in this appeal in an eminent domain proceeding is whether the trial court erred in the per se disqualification of all customers of the landowner from serving as commissioners.

I

On November 24, 1997, the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner of Virginia (the Commonwealth) condemned, as part of a project to improve an interstate highway, a 0.571-acre parcel of land owned by First Bank and Trust Company (the Bank) in the City of Bristol. The trial court conducted a voir dire proceeding to select and empanel…