Iowa Court Revives Highway Rest Stop’s Property Appraisal Claim

An Iowa district court wrongly dismissed a rest stop’s property assessment challenge for incompetent evidence, the state appeals court said Wednesday in an opinion remanding the issue.

Iowa 80 Truckstop, which advertises as the “world’s largest truckstop,” operates on 19 parcels of land. The district court originally dismissed the rest stop’s appraisal evidence because the expert witness failed to include three parcels in his valuation, and included a parcel not owned by Iowa 80.

“The district court used its concerns to conclude that Iowa 80 failed to present competent evidence that the market value of each parcel was different than ...