Amoskeag-Lawrence Mills, Inc. v. State

144 A.2d 221, 101 N.H. 392, 1958 N.H. LEXIS 47
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedJuly 18, 1958
DocketNo. 4636
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 144 A.2d 221 (Amoskeag-Lawrence Mills, Inc. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amoskeag-Lawrence Mills, Inc. v. State, 144 A.2d 221, 101 N.H. 392, 1958 N.H. LEXIS 47 (N.H. 1958).

Opinion

Wheeler, J.

The State, on September 8, 1955, took by eminent domain a tract of land of the plaintiff on the west side of the Merrimack river in Manchester containing 142,000 square feet on which was located a building known as the “river warehouse,” a brick building 1073 feet long and 68 feet wide, 4 stories high and containing 290,000 square feet of floor space. The premises were utilized at the time of the taking for industrial purposes as an integral part of the plaintiff’s textile manufacturing operations.

The warehouse was purchased on March 1, 1946, for $38,868 as a storehouse for raw wool as part of a proposed plan for the establishment of a “top” mill which consists of a scouring and combing plant. The capacity of the top mill governs the size and operation of the spinning and weaving sections and in turn requires adequate storage facilities for raw wool of various grades, of sufficient size to insure a supply at all times.

Prior to the purchase of the river warehouse on November 1, 1941, the plaintiff acquired what is known as the Amory mill on the east side of the river, for $160,000, allocating $50,000 of the purchase price to real estate. In 1942, an office building was acquired for $5,000. The northern half of what is known as No.11 mill west of the river was later acquired in 1944 for $47,500. The northern two sections of a cloth warehouse extending along the east side of No. 11 mill between it and the river warehouse were purchased in 1947 for $18,000.

Thus the group of buildings involved in the plaintiff’s integrated operations was purchased between 1941 and 1947 for $159,368. Before the taking of the river warehouse, plaintiff had invested nearly ten million dollars in the acquisition and development of its properties, $7,282,000 of which represented investments in ma[395]*395chinery. The properties, so developed, integrated a top mill with facilities for spinning, weaving and finishing textiles.

The plaintiff contends that the taking of the river warehouse made it impossible to continue the operation of the top mill, and since no warehouse of suitable size was available, the value of the top mill installation which would be recognized by a potential purchaser was reduced to liquidation value and the plaintiff is therefore entitled to severance damages with respect to the top mill as well as with respect to the No. 11 mill property adjoining the warehouse.

The plaintiff assigns eight specific exceptions as grounds for a new trial as well as the principal issue advanced in its brief and oral argument which “ . . . broadly speaking and without reference to the specific exceptions which raise it, is whether valuation of property already developed to its admittedly highest and best use, and in use, is to be computed recognizing the added value that the existing adaptation creates, or whether the property is to be valued without reference to such existing increment of value, as if it were not already adapted.” It is urged that the Trial Court adopted the latter view, which was the view of the State, and improperly ignored the plaintiff’s theory of valuation.

The plaintiff’s theory of valuation as we understand it is that the plaintiff’s integrated plant was a unique industrial property in operation and that injustice results in applying rules of valuation developed at a time when most properties condemned were undeveloped. The record does not reveal that plaintiff was unduly restricted in advancing its theory of valuation. During the course of the trial the Court permitted the plaintiff to introduce evidence of reproduction and replacement costs, integrated operations of the top mill with other departments, the properties with machinery in place, severance damage and in general practically everything advanced by the plaintiff with the exception of the cost of removal of the machinery, all over the vigorous objections of State’s counsel. Plaintiff’s witnesses testified that the loss occasioned by the taking, using both the summation and capitalization methods, would amount to between $900,000 to over $1,000,000. The State’s witnesses, using the comparative sales approach and capitalization methods, testified the loss was between $110,000 and $125,000. In Edgcomb Steel Co. v. State, 100 N. H. 480, a comprehensive rule of what constituted fair market value was established, in harmony with the great weight of authority. Olson v. United [396]*396States, 292 U. S. 246. Among other tests in determining value the plaintiff is entitled to have his property appraised for the most advantageous and profitable use to which it could be put. Low v. Railroad, 63 N. H. 557; Emmons v. Company, 83 N. H. 181.

The plaintiff claims that the rulings of the Trial Court, both during its opening statement and during the presentation of evidence relating to severance damages, were erroneous. In the plaintiff’s opening statement, plaintiff’s counsel stated its position to be that the taking of the warehouse made the top mill completely inoperative and because it vras without warehouse capacity it could not operate the top making plant and the severance necessarily resulted in a depreciated value of the Amory Mill. As a result of an objection by State’s counsel, a colloquy ensued between plaintiff’s counsel and the Court, during which the Court stated, in substance, that there could be no recovery for being put out of business but that the measure of damages was the difference between the value before and after taking and its effect on the remaining property or the value of the business. Plaintiff’s counsel agreed with the Court that it could not recover for loss of profits "or anything of that kind.” While the plaintiff excepted to certain tentative rulings of the Court during plaintiff’s opening statement, it does not appear from the record as a whole that any prejudicial error resulted from these rulings.

The plaintiff introduced evidence through expert (Witnesses that the difference between the value of the integrated properties before the taking of the warehouse and after the taking ranged between $927,000 and $1,061,000. The witness who testified to the latter figure further testified that in his opinion the severance damage caused to the plaintiff by removal of the river warehouse was in excess of $300,000.

The plaintiff offered to show, through witness McKettrick, that the taking of the river warehouse on September 8, 1955, reduced the value of the top mill installation which would be recognized by a potential purchaser of such an installation by at least the difference between four hundred and seventy-five thousand and three hundred and ten thousand or one hundred and sixty-five thousand. The offer was rejected by the Court. Plaintiff argues that the offer was clearly admissible under the Edgcomb case, supra, as well as being competent evidence of damages occasioned by the taking for which it is entitled to be compensated. After some colloquy with the Court, counsel agreed that the offer of proof included the value [397]*397of the machinery and argued; “It’s the loss of value represented by the combination of the machinery in place . . . which is a recognized value which a potential purchaser would recognize and does recognize.”

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Bluebook (online)
144 A.2d 221, 101 N.H. 392, 1958 N.H. LEXIS 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amoskeag-lawrence-mills-inc-v-state-nh-1958.