Utah Dep’t of Transp. v. Target Corp., 2018 UT App 24 (Feb. 8, 2018).

UDOT appealed the district court’s award of $2.3 million in severance damages in connection with UDOT’s condemnation of a portion of property owned by the claimants.  In evaluating the claim for severance damages based on a loss of visibility, the Court of Appeals held the presumption of causation that exists when visibility issues stem from a “structure” built on the taken property does not require the view-impairing structure to be entirely constructed within the taken parcel.  It further held the appropriate “structure” for purposes of this analysis was the freeway interchange, rather than only the component parts constructed on the taken property as UDOT maintained.  Based on these and other rulings, the Court affirmed the entire award of severance damages.