AMI 2006 Definition—Fair Market Value

Arkansas Supreme Court Committee On Jury Instructions-Civil

Ark. Model Jury Instr., Civil AMI 2006

Arkansas Model Jury Instructions-Civil

December 2023 Update

Arkansas Supreme Court Committee On Jury Instructions-Civil

Chapter 20. Eminent Domain

AMI 2006 Definition—Fair Market Value

When I use the expression “fair market value,” I mean the amount of money which a purchaser who is willing but not obligated to buy the property would pay to an owner who is willing but not obligated to sell it, taking into consideration all uses to which the land is adapted and might reasonably be applied. Fair market value is not necessarily based on the use to which the property was being put at the date of taking, but is to be based on the fair market value of the land put to its highest and best use.

NOTE ON USE

Use this instruction only in cases involving eminent domain. In all other cases requiring a definition of “fair market value,” use AMI 2221.

COMMENT

This instruction is based on Arkansas State Highway Commission v. Marshall, 253 Ark. 212, 485 S.W. 2d 740 (1972); Arkansas State Highway Commission v. Delaughter, 250 Ark. 990, 468 S.W.2d 242 (1971); and Arkansas State Highway Commission v. Pearrow, 1 Ark. App. 289, 614 S.W. 2d 695 (1981).

A landowner “is entitled to compensation based on the [fair] market value of the land put to its highest and best use.” Delaughter, 250 Ark. at 1001, 468 S.W.2d at 247.

“[J]ust compensation in an eminent domain case is not to be arrived at by speculation and conjecture.” Simmons v. Ark. State Highway Comm'n, 259 Ark. 503, 505, 534 S.W.2d 16, 18 (1976).

“A landowner is entitled to show every advantage that his property possesses, present and prospective, to have his witnesses state any and every fact concerning the property which he would naturally adduce in order to place it in an advantageous light if he were selling it to a private individual, and to show the availability of this property for any and all purposes for which it is plainly adapted or for which it is likely to have value and induce purchases.” Ark. State Highway Comm'n v. First Pyramid Life Ins. Co., 269 Ark. 278, 283–84, 602 S.W.2d 609, 612–13 (1980).

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