Dept of Transportation v. HJ Grathol, 343 P.3d 480

ITD condemned 16.314 acres of a 56.8-acre parcel owned by HJ Grathol to widen U.S. 95; district court tried the just-compensation bench trial and awarded $675,000.
Grathol bought the 56.8 acres in 2008 and rezoned it commercial; Grathol’s experts valued a 30-acre western portion as the separately appraisable unit.
Pretrial rulings limited Grathol to severance claims based on difference in remainder fair market value (excluded discrete special-damage amounts and claims tied to a proposed Sylvan Road taking).
At trial, Grathol’s experts relied on a 30-acre larger-parcel theory and offered confusing or inconsistent severance valuations; ITD’s experts valued the taking as part of the full 56.8-acre tract and found no severance damages.
The district court found the larger parcel was the entire 56.8 acres, found no severance damages, excluded substantive testimony about Sylvan Road’s takings effect, awarded ITD costs, and denied ITD attorney fees.
On appeal the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed valuation and severance rulings, vacated the denial of ITD’s fee request (remanding for proper analysis under condemnation fee law), affirmed costs (including discretionary costs for an appraiser), and awarded ITD appellate attorney fees.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Grathol)	Defendant's Argument (ITD)	Held
What is the "larger parcel" for valuation?	The 16-acre taking should be valued as part of a western 30-acre economic unit.	The taking must be valued as part of the entire 56.8-acre parent tract (unity of title, contiguity, unity of use).	Affirmed: substantial evidence supports treating the larger parcel as the full 56.8 acres.
Did the remainder suffer severance damages?	Grathol: increased development costs and expert opinion support significant severance damages.	ITD: Grathol’s valuation testimony was inconsistent; ITD’s experts found no severance.	Affirmed: district court reasonably found no provable decrease in remainder fair market value.
Admissibility of Sylvan Road testimony	Grathol: testimony about Sylvan Road’s impact on value was relevant to severance.	ITD: Sylvan Road was not part of the taking; testimony was speculative and had been dismissed.	Affirmed: court did not abuse discretion in limiting Sylvan Road testimony.
Award of attorney fees and costs	Grathol: condemnor should not receive fees; district court correctly denied ITD fees under §12-117.	ITD: fees may be awarded under Acarrequi/§12-121 in extreme cases; costs allowable.	Costs affirmed (including discretionary appraiser costs); denial of ITD attorney fees vacated and remanded for proper §12-121/Acarrequi analysis; appellate fees awarded to ITD.

State ex rel. Symms v. City of Mountain Home, 94 Idaho 528 (larger-parcel test: unity of title, contiguity, unity of use)
State ex rel. Nelson Sand & Gravel, Inc., 93 Idaho 574 (unity-of-use focus in larger-parcel analysis)
Ada County Highway Dist. v. Acarrequi, 105 Idaho 873 (Acarrequi factors for awarding fees/costs in condemnation cases)
Syringa Networks, LLC v. Idaho Dep’t of Admin., 155 Idaho 55 (§12-117 is not the exclusive source for fee awards against state agencies)
Telford Lands LLC v. Cain, 154 Idaho 981 (standards for appellate review of fee awards)
Ada County Highway Dist. v. Magwire, 104 Idaho 656 (definition of fair market value in condemnation context)
State ex rel. Rich v. Fonburg, 80 Idaho 269 (examples of larger-parcel factual inquiry)