St. Louis County, Missouri v. Watson

KATHIANNE KNAUP CRANE, Presiding Judge.

This appeal raises the question whether a trial court abuses its discretion by awarding a landowner interest under the last sentence of section 523.045 RSMo (2000) 1 on a damage award in an abandoned condemnation proceeding if the landowner does not introduce evidence that it suffered a deprivation of property rights beyond the loss of use of money while the proceedings were pending. Because a trial court has the discretion to award interest without such evidence, we affirm.

Plaintiff, St. Louis County, (the County) is a charter county and a political…