Regional Transportation District v. 750 West 48th Ave., LLC, 2015 CO 57

RTD condemned a 1.6-acre property leased to a commercial tenant; only dispute was fair market value.
Landowner sought compensation via a three-member commission trial supervised by Denver County Judge Ann B. Frick.
RTD sought to admit (1) expert Steve Serenyi’s testimony using comparable- and income-based valuation approaches and (2) evidence about the tenant’s relocation site at 8510 Willow Street (to show the luxury improvements were superadequacies).
Judge Frick denied in part Landowner’s motion in limine and expressly permitted Serenyi’s alternate valuation testimony; at trial the commission nonetheless sustained Landowner’s relevance objection and excluded that testimony.
The commission admitted the Willow Street evidence, but at the end of the hearing Judge Frick instructed the commissioners to disregard that evidence as irrelevant; the commission later returned a valuation favorable to Landowner.
The court of appeals affirmed both the commission’s exclusion of Serenyi’s testimony and the judge’s instruction to disregard the Willow Street evidence; the Colorado Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Issue	RTD's Argument	Landowner's Argument	Held
Whether a valuation commission may reverse a supervising judge’s in limine evidentiary ruling without consulting the judge	Commission can modify prior judicial in limine rulings after hearing further evidence; commission acts like a successor fact-finder	Commission must follow explicit judicial rulings; allowing unilateral reversal undermines judicial supervision	Judicial evidentiary rulings control; commission may rule on evidence only if judge has not already issued a definitive ruling; commission erred by excluding Serenyi’s testimony contrary to judge’s in limine order
Whether a supervising judge may instruct commissioners at the conclusion of testimony to disregard evidence the commission previously admitted	Judge cannot override commissioners’ initial evidentiary determinations made during the hearing	Judge has statutory authority to decide all questions except compensation and must instruct commissioners at the end; she may direct them to disregard evidence she finds irrelevant	Judge acted within authority to instruct commission to disregard Willow Street evidence; affirmed

State Dep’t of Highways v. Mahaffey, 697 P.2d 773 (Colo. App. 1984) (commissions have authority to make evidentiary decisions during hearings)
State Dep’t of Highways v. Pigg, 656 P.2d 46 (Colo. App. 1982) (commissions empowered to make evidentiary rulings)
City of Englewood v. Denver Waste Transfer, L.L.C., 55 P.3d 191 (Colo. App. 2002) (trial judge may reserve ruling on motions in limine and allow commission discretion during hearing)
Kazadi v. People, 291 P.3d 16 (Colo. 2012) (standard of review for legal questions; questions of law reviewed de novo)