Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Texas v. Wildish Construction Co.

The court today throws away an opportunity to take a step presaged in its opinions of the last 30 years. Because I believe we should take that step, I dissent.

As early as 1959, this court said that, in cases of tortious damage to real property,

“[because] the allowance of damages is to award just compensation without enrichment, there is no universal test for determining the value of property injured or destroyed and * * * the mode and amount of proof must be adapted to the facts of each case. [Citation omitted.]”

Ore. Mutual Fire Ins. Co. v. Mathis, 215 Or 218, 224-25, 334 P2d 186 (1959)…