S-24-0826 Helzer Farms, LLC (Appellant) v. Jason Allington and Allington Farms, LLC (Appellees)
Appeal from the District Court for Gage County, Judge Ricky A. Schreiner on appeal from the County Court for Gage County, Judge Jeffrey A. Gaertig
Attorneys: Stephen D. Mossman and Andrew R. Spader (Mattson Ricketts Law Firm, LLP for Appellant) and Charles E. Wilbrand and Anthony M. Budell (Knudsen, Berkheimer, Richardson & Endacott, LLP for Appellees)
Civil: Trespass
Proceedings Below: Appellant sued Appellees for half the cost to install a boundary fence. Appellees counterclaimed and alleged that Appellants trespassed on and damaged their property. The county court determined that Appellees owed Appellants for half the cost of the fence, but it also awarded Appellees damages because Appellant removed trees from their property. On appeal to the district court, it affirmed. On its own motion, the Supreme Court ordered this case to be transferred from the docket of the Court of Appeals to its docket.
Issues: Appellant assigns the following errors: 1) The district court erred in affirming the judgment of the county court by finding that the county court’s judgment conformed to the law, was supported by competent evidence, and was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable; 2) The county court erred in holding that Appellees were entitled to replacement cost damages for the cedar trees, instead of the diminution of market value damages; 3) The county court erred in holding that Appellees’ damages under Keitges v. VanDermuelen, 240 Neb. 580 (1992) were not limited to the fair market value of the area impacted by the trespass, but rather the market value of the whole of Allington’s property; 4) The county court erred in holding that $83,157 was the reasonable cost of restoration of Allington’s property, when the evidence was undisputed that cedar trees would naturally repopulate the impacted area; 5) The county court erred in holding Allington intended to use the impacted area for recreational purposes when the undisputed evidence shows Allington converted the impacted area into farmland; 6) The county court erred in holding Allington intended to use the impacted area for recreational purposes when the undisputed evidence shows Allington transferred title to the impacted area to his farming LLC; 7) The county court erred in holding that 200 trees were needed to replace the trees in the impacted area, because it never determined whether 0.46 acres or 0.96 acres were impacted; 8) The county court erred in finding that Mangan was qualified as an expert witness; and 9) The county court erred in permitting Aaron Oltmans to testify beyond the scope of his disclosed testimony.