Diocese of Buffalo v. State of New York

Condemnation proceedings were held by the court to determine the appropriate measure of damages owed to the Diocese of Buffalo (Diocese) (plaintiff) after the State of New York (the state) (defendant) partially took the Diocese’s cemetery land. The parcel of land that the state took over had 3,500 grave sites out of a total of 65,450 grave sites owned by the Diocese. The court estimated that for the Diocese to sell the 65,450 total grave sites at a rate of 1,190 grave sites per year would have taken 55 years. Based on these estimates, the court figured that selling the 3,500 grave sites on the parcel of land taken by the state would take approximately three years. The entire property’s value before the taking was estimated to be $1,870,462.33, so the average value of each grave site was $28.58. After multiplying the average value of each grave site by 3,500, the court awarded the Diocese $100,030.00 in damages for the partial taking of the cemetery land. The state appealed, arguing that the court incorrectly calculated the damages because the court failed to consider the value of the Diocese’s remaining land after the state’s partial taking, which equaled $1,855,354.77. According to the state, the court should have awarded the Diocese only $15,107.56, or the difference between the value of the entire property before the taking and the value of the remainder of the property after the taking.