Blick v. Ozaukee County’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““There is a manifest difference between a bargain where one party has the legal right to acquire and the other must sell and a bargain where both parties are in the exercise of their own free will. One party may pay a little more or the other may take a little less to avoid the annoyance and expense of litigation, and the agreement thus reached does not necessarily indicate the fair market value of the property taken as that term is understood in the law. The infirmity of this class of evidence is more marked where the element of consequential damages forms a part of the compensation paid. That factor is as variable as the landscape and often includes intangible and aesthetic considerations. Situations legitimately comparable must of necessity be rare. Their establishment or attempted establishment would introduce aggravating and time-consuming collateral issues tending to promote confusion rather than clarity. . . .””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 53 Wis. 2d 522 - Kirkpatrick v. State (Dnr)

2. “What the party condemning has paid for other property is incompetent. Such sales are not a fair criterion of value, for the reason that they are in the nature of a compromise. They are affected by an element which does not enter into similar transactions made in the ordinary course of business.... The fear of one party or the other to take the risk of legal proceedings ordinarily results in the one party paying more or the other taking less than is considered to be the fair market value of the property. For these reasons such sales would not seem to be competent evidence of value in any case, whether in a proceeding by the same condemning party or otherwise.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Pinczkowski v. Milwaukee County

3. ““. . . The great weight of authority, however, is to the effect that the price paid in settlement of condemnation proceedings, or the price paid by the condemnor for similar land, even if proceedings had not been begun, where the purchaser has the power to take by eminent domain, is not admissible. . . .” (Emphasis supplied.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 67 Wis. 2d 407 - Herro v. Department of Natural Resources