Kroulik v. Knuppel

Raymond Knuppel (defendant) purchased land adjoining the Krouliks' (plaintiffs) property, including a gravel bar between the two properties, and leased it to Burnett Construction Company (defendant) for two years of gravel mining. The Krouliks sued, and the trial court found the gravel bar actually belonged to them by adverse possession, then held a damages hearing where an expert valued a destroyed 73-year-old pine tree at $8.40 for lumber and $229.63 for aesthetic value; the trial court found the defendants were not willful trespassers and awarded the Krouliks $1,500 for the tree's aesthetic value plus Burnett's actual royalty payments to Knuppel for the extracted gravel. The defendants appealed the aesthetic-value award, and the Krouliks cross-appealed, arguing damages for the extracted gravel should instead be based on its value minus extraction costs.