After bench trial to determine final just compensation in an eminent domain proceeding, Defendant, as trustee, appealed several rulings as to operative date for valuing the property. As Defendant never sought to make use of the statutory provision that would have permitted court to declare a valuation date different than date of filing, and as there was no evidence of any change in value of the property in the 3 months between date of filing and date of taking, no error in court using date of filing of complaint as date of valuation. Court did not abuse its discretion in denying Defendant's request to continue jury trial to allow Defendant's expert witness on valuation, who was out of state, to return to Illinois to testify. It was Defendant's attorneys' own failure to resolve any confusion about whether trial was set to commence on the trial date which led to their expert not being available for trial or for evidence deposition, and this trial date had been set for seven months. (HOWSE and LAVIN, concurring.)
Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Eminent Domain