Standage Ventures, Inc. v. State

OPINION

HOWARD, Chief Judge.

Was the width of the highway validly established when appellants received their patents from the United States? That was the issue below.

This was an inverse eminent domain action by owners of various five-acre parcels of land abutting a state highway southeast of Apache Junction, Arizona. The state claimed that its right-of-way over their land was 400 feet wide whereas appellants claimed the right-of-way was only 100 feet wide and therefore sought damages because the state in widening the highway unlawfully “encroached on their land”.

The case was tried to the court…