Jury awards property owners $700,800 for land taken to build 83/Chestnut Ridge roundabout

A Lorain County Probate jury has ordered the city of North Ridgeville to pay more than $700,000 to two brothers, property owners whose land was taken by eminent domain to build a roundabout in the city. A jury of six on Thursday awarded Mark and Matthew Standen $236,400 in compensation for property taken to build a roundabout at state Route 83 and Chestnut Ridge Road, plus $464,400 in damages for the loss of value on the remaining property. In total, the jury awarded the brothers $700,800, nearly three times what the city had offered the Standens. Probate Judge James Walther presided over the case. Public works are for the benefit of everyone but "the city of North Ridgeville forgot about the devastating effect it had on people with property," said attorney Dennis O'Toole, who represented Mark and Matthew Standen in court. The Standens had 2.67 acres at the northwest corner of Route 83 and Chestnut Ridge Road, zoned commercial. They bought it more than 20 years ago, and thought that one day it might be worth something to a developer so they could have "a nest egg" for retirement, their attorney said. It was "by far the best corner in the metro North Ridgeville area," O'Toole said. When the city of North Ridgeville took a chunk of the property by eminent domain to build a roundabout in 2021, it offered $236,400 and not a penny more. "The problem (the Standens) had was what was left had no access," and the city "would not give them the loss in value. That was what the real battle was," O'Toole said. He said the jury "saw through that nonsense." The appraiser the Standens hired and the one the city used agreed that what was taken was worth the $236,400, O'Toole said. The only question left at trial was how much the brothers should get in damages beyond that. No developers were going to come in and buy the Standens remaining property without access from the road, O'Toole said. State and local governments have the authority to take property through eminent domaint, and must pay the owner "just compensation," which includes the fair market value of the property or what the owner could get if they put the property up for sale. The Ohio Constitution also says property owners are entitled to have the amount of compensation determined by a jury. "So, if the state and the property owner cannot agree on the amount of compensation, the state will file a lawsuit called an appropriation action and there will be a jury trial to determine the amount of compensation owed," according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office. That's what happened in this case. North Ridgeville Law Director Brian Moriarty said the Standens "apparently believed we rendered the property valueless, which again we don't agree with." He said the city's argument in court was that there was no financial damage due for the property the Standens had left, but "the jury found otherwise." The Standens also argued they couldn't access what was left of their property, "and we we disagreed with that" also, Moriarty said. "We're disappointed with the outcome and we're weighing our options," he said Monday. One option is an appeal. The city has 30 days to decide whether to file one, Moriarty said. O'Toole has won hundreds of thousands of dollars for clients who believed their property was harmed by eminent domain. In 2023, a jury awarded his client Baumhart Road Holdings $393,450 from the Ohio Department of Transportation after the state agency took property to build a roundabout at Baumhart Road and state Route 113 in Henrietta Township. What state and local governments don't always do when they make compensation offers, O'Toole said, is "consider the harm they do to the people they've taken the property from." They say "Take (what we've offered) or we're going to sue you in court," he said. "They get it in their head that they're paying for the property they're taking, but every single time they come up with 'zero' in damages." O'Toole said he told the jury that the writers of the U.S. Constitution "knew about you, planned on you, put in the Bill of Rights that private property will not be taken without just compensation." They are "the barrier" to "an unchecked government," O'Toole said. The Standens are "just normal guys" with regular jobs, their attorney said. "I'm happy for them. I'm glad it worked out," O'Toole said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.