This one’s a doozy. We are informed that a federal jury in California has just brought in a whopping verdict for the taking of 1000 acres of iron ore bearing land with a mining permit. The subject land is out in the Mojave Desert near Twenty Nine Palms. The feds’ evidence of value was $5.6 million. The owners’ evidence was $38.6 million, and the jury verdict was $30,283,750, delivered after only three hours of deliberation. The case is United States v. 1005.58 Acres, etc., Case No. 5-16-cv-1014 VAP (SPx), Central District of California.
The smiling owners’ counsel is Ed Burg of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.