Ark. State Highway Comm. v. Kesner

388 S.W.2d 905, 239 Ark. 270, 1965 Ark. LEXIS 970
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 12, 1965
Docket5-3427
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 388 S.W.2d 905 (Ark. State Highway Comm. v. Kesner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ark. State Highway Comm. v. Kesner, 388 S.W.2d 905, 239 Ark. 270, 1965 Ark. LEXIS 970 (Ark. 1965).

Opinions

Carleton Harris, Chief Justice.

Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Kesner, appellees herein, own Lot 37 in the Eastern Hills Addition to the City of Fort Smith. This lot lies at the northwest corner of the intersection of Grand Avenue and Sixtieth Terrace. Grand Avenue runs east and west, and borders the south side of the lot. Sixtieth Terrace runs north and south, and borders the east side of the lot. The Kesners’ house on this corner lot faces east toward Sixtieth Terrace, connected to that street by a sidewalk. On the south side of the house is' located the garage and driveway, which enters upon Grand Avenue.

The Arkansas State Highway Commission, appellant herein, is constructing Interstate Highway No. 540. This highway runs north and south through the Eastern Hills Addition, somewhat parallel with Sixtieth Terrace, and east of it. The Kesner home faces the new highway. In constructing this highway, the commission has not taken any part of the Kesner lot; it has taken by eminent domain the lots across Sixieth Terrace from the Kesner lot, and a part of Sixtieth Terrace, in the shape of a right triangle, has also been taken. The hypotenuse of the triangle is the right of way line; this line starts on the east side of the street, about fifty feet north of the Kesner lot, and runs southwesterly across the street until it reaches the southeast corner of the Kesner lot, this point being the location of the intersection of Grand Avenue and Sixtieth Terrace. Roughly along this right of way line, the commission has constructed a guard rail across Sixtieth Terrace.. This rail is a barricade which closes off Sixtieth Terrace from Grand Avenue. On its side of the rail, the Highway Commission has lowered the grade of Sixtieth Terrace, and has constructed an access road from the new! highway onto Grand Avenue. I

The Kesners instituted suit in the Sebastian Chan-eery Court, asking that the commission be enjoined from taking or damaging their property without paying for it. The complaint alleges a loss of ingress and egress to- and from the property, because of the barricade,- and the taking of part of Sixtieth Terrace. It is further asserted that the free course of view, light and air will be impaired, ahd. that the market value of their property'will be diminished. The complaint was subsequently amended to allege further damage, because of the violation of certain restrictive covenants.

Appellant answered, denying that the Kesners ’ property had been taken or damaged, and further asserting-that even if damage had occurred, it was non-compensable.

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The cause was heard' by the court under a stipulation that the only question to be decided was that of liability; the question of amount of damages (if the court found liability) was reserved.. After hearing the evidence, the court found that appellees had sustained damage by virtue of the fact that a right of ingress and egress had been lost; that damage had also been sustained by reason of restrictive covenants, and that the Kesners were entitled to just compensation for the diminution in value of their property. An injunction was granted against the commission, but was suspended, because that body had posted a $10,000 bond. From the finding of liability for damage done the Kesner property, appellant brings this appeal.

Appellees asked the court to require a $15,000 cash deposit in lieu of the $10,000 bond, but the court refused this prayer, and appellees have cross-appealed from the provision of the decree suspending the injunction, and the court’s refusal to order the $15,000 cash deposit in lieu of the $10,000 bond.

In its opinion, the court mentioned that appellees were not entitled to recover for noise, dust, etc., and we approve and affirm this finding. Campbell v. Ark. State Hwy. Commission, 183 Ark. 780, 38 S.W. 2d 753.

We first dispose of the court’s finding of damage suffered because of restrictive covenants contained in a Bill of Assurance filed in 1955, which provided, inter alia, that no lot in Eastern Hills should be used except for residential purposes; that nothing should be done which might become an annoyance or nuisance to the neighborhood, and other restrictions which we do not set out because we find that these are not elements of damage for which appellees can be compensated. This same issue was raised in the case of Arkansas State Highway Commission v. McNeill, 238 Ark. 244, 381 S.W. 2d 425, and determined adversely to appellee’s contention. The litigation presently before us was decided by the Chancellor before our opinion was rendered in McNeill, and appellees ’ brief on this point consists of a plea to reconsider our holding' in that case. We decline to do so, feeling that that decision is entirely sound. It follows that appellees are not entitled to compensation for this alleged damage, and the Chancellor’s findings that this is a compensable element of damage is therefore reversed.

One of the main questions is whether the loss of ingress and egress to Sixtieth Terrace constitutes compensable damage. It might be first stated, as a general principle, that, before a landowner can recover for damage to his property where there has been no actual taking, he must suffer direct and substantial damage peculiar to himself, and not suffered by other members of the public, and this is true., even though he may be actually more inconvenienced that the public in general. Arkansas State Highway Commission v. McNeill, supra. It is not enough that a landowner show that his damage is different from that suffered by the general public. He must show that a property right has been invaded, and the fact that the value of his lot has diminished is not, within itself, sufficient to establish special compensatory damages. Wenderoth v. Baker, 238 Ark. 464, 382 S.W. 2d 578. Certain other conditions may arise, which might appear damaging to a complaining landowner, but which, under the law, are not compensable. We have held that circuity of travel, i.e., being compelled to go a few blocks out of the way is not compensable. Risser v. City of Little Rock, 225 Ark. 318, 281 S.W. 2d 949. Here, appellees can enter onto Grand Avenue, travel to Fifty-ninth Terrace, turn to the right, and travel back to Sixtieth Terrace, and to their property.’-

Áppellant says that appellees have not lost the right of ingress or egress to and from their property, because of this access to Grand Avenue. In fact, this is the entrance that has consistently been used by the Kesners since building their home. The garage is on the south side of the house, and the driveway enters onto Grand Avenue. There is not, and has never been, a driveway onto Sixtieth Terrace. Accordingly, it is vigorously argued by the Highway Commission that the right of ingress and egress has not been distributed in the slightest. However, we think the commission, in making this argument, overlooks a basic right of an abutting property owner, for the right of access to a street or highway is one of the incidents of the ownership or occupancy of land abutting thereon. In Volume 25, Am. Jur., Section 154, Page 448, it is said:

“* * # Such right is appurtenant to the land, and exists when the fee title to the way is in the public as well as when it is in private ownership. It is a property right of which the owner cannot be deprived without just compensation. This basement extends to the full width of the street.”1

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Ark. State Highway Comm. v. Kesner
388 S.W.2d 905 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1965)

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388 S.W.2d 905, 239 Ark. 270, 1965 Ark. LEXIS 970, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ark-state-highway-comm-v-kesner-ark-1965.