$170K Oconee jury verdict
The jury has spoken at the Oconee Courthouse. A two-day civil trial ends with the award of $170 thousand to a couple near Westminster that challenged a power supplier’s condemnation offer for a piece of their land. A court officer described the couple as looking pleased when they left the courthouse a few minutes ago. The jury heard testimony that the taking, for the purpose of the route for a transmission line, had depreciated the home and remaining acreage of Debbie and Donald Slisher. According to case documents, Central Electric Power Co-Op had valued just compensation for the land at $20,500 and $5,858.31 for the removal of timber. But Mrs. Slisher, identified as a realtor, placed the loss to her and husband at nearly $400 thousand.