State’s high court to rule in sign fight

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday will determine how billboard owners get paid when the state condemns property to make room for highway projects.

The case centers on a dispute between Country Side Restaurant and Baton Rouge, La.-based The Lamar Advertising Co. over how much money Lamar is entitled to after the state used eminent domain to take Country Side property in October 2008.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation took the land at the corner of Highway 41 and Highway 21 in Oshkosh for a widening project on 41 and paid Country Side $1.9 million. Lamar, which owned a billboard and leased a portion of the property from Country Side, wants $120,000 from that payment.

But WisDOT, in May 2009, paid Lamar $83,525 for the value of the sign as well as removal and moving costs. Lamar’s attorney has argued the sign company sued Country Side for the $120,000, which is held in trust by the Winnebago clerk of courts, because the money represents the value of Lamar’s sign permitting, location and lease hold rights.

“The nature of the claim is that in a taking situation, the sign company loses a whole number of rights,” said Lamar attorney Tom Hornig, of von Briesen & Roper SC, Madison, “all of which should be paid for in just compensation form.”

Both the trial court and the District 2 Court of Appeals disagreed and ruled Lamar has no legitimate claim to more compensation because the company did not own the property.

WisDOT’s appraisal set the value of the permitted sign site at $65,000, which the lower courts ruled Lamar could not recover out of the $1.9 million paid to Country Side.

Lamar petitioned the Supreme Court to take the case and oral arguments were held March 6.

“What happened here was Lamar found this intersection attractive and wanted to install a sign there,” said Country Side attorney Hugh Braun, of Godfrey, Braun & Frazier LLP, Milwaukee. “So they claim, as a result of them getting a permit to construct a sign there, that they have an interest in the real estate that was covered by this permit.”

Country Side’s position is that because WisDOT already paid Lamar and company officials signed a document waiving future claims for damages or loss involving the sign, Lamar is not entitled to any more compensation.

According to court documents, Lamar entered into a 10-year lease with Country Side starting in 2006 at an annual rate of $5,400.

Hornig said the court’s decision would set precedent.

“I am counsel for the Outdoor Advertising Association of Wisconsin, so we’re always looking at not only what happens to sign companies in individual cases, but looking at precedential value as well,” he said. “This is just a case we felt we absolutely had to pursue.”