Husband, wife get $700,000 for land

A jury awarded a Spokane County couple $700,000 Friday for land taken from them to build a still uncompleted north-south freeway.

The state Department of Transportation condemned 17 of some 30 acres on which Gary and Linda Coffield have lived since 1974.

The land holds the couple’s home and outbuildings, including a shop their son, Jim Coffield, leases for his construction business.

The land is view property on Fairview Road, about two blocks north and two blocks east of the intersection of Market and Freya Streets.

Attorneys Tim Fennessy and Kevin Roberts argued that the state’s final offer of $455,000 was far too low.

They cited an approximately $700,000 settlement earlier this month for about 9 1/2 acres just south of the Coffields’ property.

But Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cade said the other property had a higher value because of its use as a quarry.

Fennessey said the Coffields haven’t decided whether to rebuild on their remaining property, but it would be difficult to do so because what’s left is “a narrow strip between the interstate and the rimrock, with a view of the interstate.”

Cade said no decision has been made on whether to appeal the verdict, but the Coffields “certainly got a good result.”

The trial began Monday and went to the jury Thursday afternoon. The jury took about four hours to reach its verdict.

– John Craig

Judge approves diocese settlements

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams approved settlements Friday between the Diocese of Spokane and six insurance carriers.

By mid-May, insurance proceeds deposited into a special trust to settle the diocese case will have reached about $20.1 million, said diocese attorneys who helped broker the agreements.

The insurance settlements are crucial to funding the overall $48 million pending bankruptcy plan of reorganization.

The settlements free the insurers from any future liability regarding priest sex abuse within the diocese.

– John Stucke

Couple suing Avista for gas explosion

A couple has sued Avista Corp. for a Dec. 30, 2005, natural gas explosion that damaged their Spokane business and caused serious burns.

Monte and Katie Yockey said in a lawsuit filed this week that the explosion and fire were caused by a leak to an Avista natural gas line beneath Cougar Mechanical, located at 3818 E. Joseph.

The Yockeys, through their attorneys Richard Eymann, Jonathan Neill and Richard Leland, allege that Avista knew of the leak but had not properly investigated nor repaired it.

Avista declined to comment on the suit filed in Spokane Superior Court.

According to news accounts at the time of the accident, the explosion happened at about 7:15 a.m. at the heating and air conditioning business when Monte Yockey attempted to light an incense stick in the office.

The five-count lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount for injuries, disfigurement, loss of business, attorney fees and other costs and damages.

– John Stucke