Beutel v. Dallas County Flood Control District, No. 1

916 S.W.2d 685, 1996 WL 62710
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 13, 1996
Docket10-94-070-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 916 S.W.2d 685 (Beutel v. Dallas County Flood Control District, No. 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beutel v. Dallas County Flood Control District, No. 1, 916 S.W.2d 685, 1996 WL 62710 (Tex. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

CUMMINGS, Justice.

At issue in this condemnation case is a 13.8 acre tract of land in Irving that is presently situated in a flood plain. The appellants are the original defendant, B.K. Cross (B.K.), and an intervenor at the trial court, H.W. Beutel, Jr., M.D., and they, in separate briefs, complain the trial court erred in finding that neither one shares an interest in the award given by the Dallas County Flood Control District No. 1 (District) for its condemnation of the tract. The issues presented by appellants are: first, whether the trial *689 court erred in failing to stay the trial proceedings after a co-defendant (who is no longer a party to this lawsuit) filed a petition in bankruptcy; second, whether the trial court erred in denying Beutel’s motion for a continuance, which he filed when the court denied the District’s motion to strike his plea in intervention only three weeks before trial; third, whether the court erred in denying Beutel’s motion for leave to file an untimely jury demand; fourth, whether the court erred in failing to find that another co-defendant, who is also no longer a party to this suit, had properly appealed the commissioner’s condemnation award; fifth, whether the court erred in offsetting a judgment against a prior owner of the 13.8 acre tract against them; sixth, whether cumulative error resulted from a combination of erroneous trial court rulings; seventh, whether the trial court erred in determining the amount of compensation owed to the owner of the condemned tract; and eighth, whether they are entitled to prejudgment interest. The District has also raised a cross-point, asserting the trial court erred in denying its motion to strike Beutel’s plea in intervention. We affirm.

I. Procedural and Factual Background

The 13.8 acre tract has been the subject of controversy since September 1983 when the District, which was created by the Texas Legislature to design and implement a plan for flood control and flood plain reclamation for the land comprising the flood plain, authorized $2500 per acre to purchase the tract from the General Portland Company in furtherance of its plan to reclaim portions of the flood plain. 1 The following month, B.K. purchased the 13.8 acre tract from General Portland for $10,000 per acre. B.K’s son, Charles Cross (Charles), then purchased the tract on credit from B.K. for approximately $2 million in October 1983. 2 The sale was secured by deed of trust liens on the property in this amount.

On April 7, 1984, Charles won election to the District’s Board of Directors, and was thereafter chosen President of the Board by his fellow directors. On July 16, 1984, Charles, as owner of the 13.8 acre tract, obtained from the Board a reprieve from the District’s condemnation proceedings. At or about this same time, Charles granted the District a temporary construction easement of 11.8927 acres on the tract so that reclamation construction could begin. The District immediately took possession of the tract and began construction. Apparently, in preparation for a new set of condemnation proceedings, the District agreed to prepare engineering drawings for the tract, showing a concrete-lined channel running through the tract.

In April 1985, the composition of the Board changed when two new members were added. Each of them had significant ties to Charles and stood to gain financially by assisting him in his efforts to have the District condemn the tract.

In the summer of 1985 the Board decided that it would prefer to purchase a permanent easement across Charles’ 13.8 acre tract rather than use the temporary easement he had made available. By the end of August, the Board had decided to purchase a permanent 4.611 acre easement across the 13.8 acre tract. In exchange for the easement, the District agreed to pay Charles $239,580.84, or $51,958.54 per acre. The District also agreed to provide Charles a number of other benefits, which are listed in Dallas County Flood Control Dist. No. 1 v. Cross, 815 S.W.2d 271, 275 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1991, writ denied) (hereafter Cross II).

*690 On October 7,1986, the District decided to condemn the remaining portion, a total of 8.233 acres, of the original 13.8 acre tract. 3 On November 12, the Board set a price for the remaining 8.233 acres at $1,201,408.70. Of the five Board members, Charles abstained from the vote and a second member had previously passed away, but the remaining three members voted unanimously in favor of the purchase.

When the minutes from this November 12 meeting were posted, several taxpayers within the District became incensed, and in December they filed a lawsuit against Charles and the District. They sought to rescind the agreement concerning the purchase of the 8.233 acre tract and to block the sale of bonds necessary to fund its purchase. The Texas Attorney General’s office refused to authorize the bond sale until the lawsuit reached some resolution.

In April 1986, before the lawsuit went to trial, the two members of the Board, who were up for election at the time, were defeated. A third new member was also elected at or about the same time to fill the position vacated by the deceased Board member mentioned above. These three new board members wished to proceed with the selling of bonds, not to pay Charles, but to fund the purchase of other tracts within the flood plain as part of the continuing reclamation project. The bonds could not be sold, however, because the Attorney General would not authorize the District to sell any bonds until the lawsuit with Charles had been sufficiently settled. Accordingly, the parties reached a temporary settlement agreement, which the Dallas Court of Appeals dubbed a “truce.” Cross II, 815 S.W.2d at 276; see Coit v. Dallas County Flood Control Dist. No. 1, 900 S.W.2d 907, 908 (Tex.App.-Eastland 1995, no writ). Under the truce, the original plaintiffs dropped their original lawsuit against Charles, and Charles agreed not to challenge the District’s authority to sell the bonds. The Board agreed to pay Charles, in addition to the $65,000 cash he received up front in November 1985 for the purchase of the 8.233 acre tract, $200,000 in cash from the sale of the bonds. The Board also agreed to place $1,042,954.20 in escrow pending a final resolution of their dispute. The Attorney General subsequently approved the bond sale, and it took place in November 1986.

In March 1987 the District brought its lawsuit against Charles, alleging violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and requesting a declaratory judgment that the August 1985 agreement between the District and Charles for the 4.611 acre easement and the November 1985 agreement for the 8.233 acre tract were illegal and, therefore, voidable. The jury found that amounts paid to Charles by the District were unconscionable, but also concluded that the District suffered no damages because the prices reflected the fair market value of land. Cross II, 815 S.W.2d at 277. The jury further found that the District was estopped to assert that its prior transactions with Charles were illegal. Id. Therefore, the District took nothing on its DTPA cause of action.

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Bluebook (online)
916 S.W.2d 685, 1996 WL 62710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beutel-v-dallas-county-flood-control-district-no-1-texapp-1996.