Section 10 Property Owner

• Library: Condemnation Practice 2009

Often, the landowner’s case in chief begins with the landowner. This witness serves multiple purposes:

• To provide an overview of the property and its history, uses, and potential

• To put a human face on the defense

• To offer an owner’s opinion of value

The testimony of the owner as a fact witness, describing the property and identifying photographs, presents nothing out of the ordinary in civil trials. The right of an owner to offer an opinion of the property’s value falls under an exception to the general rules of expert witness requirements. Courts permit an owner of real property to testify as to the reasonable market value of the property based on the assumption that owners know their land and its potential uses.

While an owner’s testimony relies primarily on firsthand experience, courts recognize that “[i]t is expected that an...