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Husband, wife get $700,000 for land
John Craig
February 17th, 2007
A jury awarded a Spokane County couple $700,000 Friday for land taken from them to build a still uncompleted north-south freeway.
The state Department of Transportation condemned 17 of some 30 acres on which Gary and Linda Coffield have lived in 1974.
The land holds the couple’s home and outbuildings, including a shop for their son, Jim Coffield, leases for his construction business.
The land is view property on Fairview road, about two blocks north and two blocks east of an intersection of Market and Freya Streets.
Attorneys Tim Fennessy and Kevin Roberts argued that the state’s final offer of $455,000 was far too low.
They cited an approximately $700,000 settlement earlier this month for 9 ½ acres just south of the Coffield’s property.
But Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cade said the other property had a higher value because of its use as a quarry.
Fennessy said the Coffields haven’t decided whether to rebuild on their remaining property, but it would be difficult to do so because what’s left is “a narrow strip between the interstate and the rimrock, with a view of the interstate.”
Cade said no decision has been made on whether to appeal the verdict, but the Coffields “certainly got a good result.”
The trial began Monday and went to the jury Thursday afternoon. The jury took about four hours to reach its verdict.
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