Williams v. Arkansas State Highway Commission

Today we discover error where none exists, and return this case to the circuit judge to retry it before another jury. The instruction which we require to be given on retrial is neither necessary nor appropriate.

The landowners’ requested instruction is set out in the majority opinion. It is a combination and rephrasing of parts of three statutes. The majority decision is based on the premise that, in an adversary proceeding, each side is entitled to present its theory of the case to the jury by way of instructions. It accurately identifies the landowners’ theory of the case, i.e., that they…