Pinczkowski v. Milwaukee County

Milwaukee County (county) (defendant) needed to acquire several properties to expand its airport, including a property belonging to Gloria Pinczkowski (plaintiff). The county publicly marked the properties for either purchase or condemnation. The county then negotiated the purchase of two properties near Pinczkowski’s property. The county also offered to purchase Pinczkowski’s property for approximately $93,000. The county determined that Pinczkowski’s actual house was worth 57.8 percent of the property offer, or approximately $54,000. The county also determined that it would cost Pinczkowski approximately $78,000 to buy a replacement house. Under a state statute, the county then offered to pay Pinczkowski an additional $24,000 as a housing-replacement payment to make up the difference between the sale price and the cost to replace the house. This housing-replacement payment would be paid in addition to the $93,000 purchase price. Pinczkowski declined the offer. Pinczkowski later bought a replacement house for $155,000, and the county used its eminent-domain authority to condemn her property. The county paid Pinczkowski $350,000 as her condemnation award for the property but refused to make a housing-replacement payment. Pinczkowski sued the county, challenging the condemnation award’s amount and arguing that she was entitled to a housing-replacement payment. At trial, the court refused to admit Pinczkowski’s evidence of the sale amounts of the other two properties that the county had purchased or a letter that Pinczkowski had received from a company expressing an intent to buy her lot. The jury determined that Pinczkowski’s property was worth only $285,000. In addition, the trial court determined that Pinczkowski was not entitled to a statutory housing-replacement payment. Pinczkowski appealed the evidentiary rulings and the dismissal of her claim for a housing-replacement payment.