City of Murfreesboro vs. Pierce Hardy Real Estate, Inc.

This case involves a dispute between the City of Murfreesboro and a landowner over the value and the acreage of a tract of land taken by the city to be used for a greenway along the Stones River. The city appeals the trial court's denial of a motion in limine that the city filed to exclude testimony of the landowner's appraiser. The motion stated that the expert's testimony relied on an inadmissible method of valuation and should, therefore, be excluded. Additionally, the landowner appeals the trial court's ruling that the landowner did not own a .61 acre portion of the of the land taken because, as it sits at the bottom of a navigable waterway, it is not subject to private ownership.