Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc. v. Strickland

STEELMAN, Judge.

Where the trial court’s instruction to the jury was based upon law of the case and left the determination of what constituted the highest and best use of the property to the jury, the instruction was not error.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On 2 February 2005, Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc. (PEC) filed a petition for condemnation in Columbus County Superior Court seeking to acquire an easement to construct a 230 kilovolt power line across a tract of land owned by William Strickland (Strickland). The condemnation sought to widen a previous seventy (70) foot easement of…