Lyle McMillan, UDOT's director of right-of-way, said the appeal would object to questionable evidence presented during a two-day trial this week that showed a housing developer paid more per acre in 2003 for Thalman family land in Woods Cross than the transportation agency offered.

That was an unfair comparison, UDOT maintains, because the housing developer who offered the higher amount raised the land's value two years after the fact.

The family's attorney, Rob Mansfield, said UDOT raised the same objection during the two-day trial this week. But 2nd District Judge Jon Memmott determined the cost comparisons were a valid defense for the family, Mansfield said.

"Our appraiser made it very clear: All he used the 2003 sale for was to confirm his 2001 appraisal," Mansfield said.

McMillan said the fact that the property hadn't been annexed into a city in 2001 figured into UDOT's valuation. After Woods Cross annexed it, the developer was able to petition for a zoning change, which made the property more valuable.

"The case was about what the property was worth in August 2001," McMillan said. "They were bringing in evidence for what it was worth in 2003."

Wednesday evening, the 2nd District Court jury decided the Thalman family deserved $4.3 million for 237 acres of property on the west side of Redwood Road south of 500 South between Woods Cross and West Bountiful. The property has been in the family for more than 100 years.

The jury added $1.2 million in interest, making the total award $5.5 million - $200,000 more than the family asked for in 2001, when UDOT moved to condemn the farmland after offering $1.9 million.

The Verl Thalman farmhouse familiar to Davis County residents wasn't part of the sale, nor were any other outbuildings on the property. The family has run cattle on the land and has grown alfalfa.