Carter v. City of Tyler

454 S.W.2d 771, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 1852
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 14, 1970
Docket476
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 454 S.W.2d 771 (Carter v. City of Tyler) 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
Carter v. City of Tyler, 454 S.W.2d 771, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 1852 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

McKAY, Justice.

This is a condemnation suit brought by appellee, the City of Tyler, seeking to condemn the fee interest in the surface of 11.-54 acres of land out of a 125 acre tract owned by appellants, Joseph L. Carter and Grace Carter. A stipulation having been entered into by both parties as to the right of the City to condemn this property, only the issue of damages was tried to a jury. The jury found the cash market value of the surface estate of the 11.54 acres to be $5,770.00, but found that the remainder of 113.47 acres had neither been damaged nor specially benefitted by the condemnation. A judgment was entered based upon these findings.

It appears that prior to the institution of this suit, appellants conveyed approximately 21 acres out of the same tract of which the property here in question is a part, to the Upper Neches River Municipal Water Authority (hereinafter called the River *773 Authority), to be a part of the Blackburn Crossing Reservoir, or Lake Palestine.

The City of Tyler, by these proceedings is acquiring land adjacent to the shores of Lake Palestine for the construction of a water pump station, water pipe lines and a service road to help supply the future water needs of the City. The pump station is to be located on a 5.59 acre rectangular tract next to the shores of the lake, and a strip of land 100 feet by 2,610.4 feet, running across appellants’ land to the pump station site, is being acquired for service road purposes.

The City’s pump station will be connected to an intake tower and suction line to be constructed by the River Authority upon its own land. This tower will be out in the waters of the lake, but the record does not disclose, by exhibit or otherwise, its exact location. While there is some evidence that the City and the River Authority jointly selected the sites for these improvements, it is undisputed that each public body will construct its part of the total project upon its own land. No part of the property owned by the River Authority was acquired by appellee in these proceedings and none of the improvements to be constructed by appellee will be situated upon the land owned by the River Authority.

Upon the trial of this case, the trial judge excluded testimony concerning the probable effect of the location in the water of this intake tower upon the value of appellants’ remainder if Used for lake shore development property. In his charge to the jury, the trial judge included a special instruction, as follows:

“You are instructed that damages, if any, to the remainder of the Carter property by reason of improvements constructed, or to be consructed by any agency other than the City of Tyler, and upon property not being acquired by the City of Tyler in these proceedings are not recoverable in these proceedings and you shall not assess any sum of money for such damages, if any, nor consider any such damages, if any, in your deliberations in this case.”

Appellants’ first two points of error complain of this special instruction. Appellants argue that such instruction is improper, and reversible error, because it does not correctly apply the law in that a condem-nee is entitled to adduce any evidence of any fact which may reasonably affect the value of the land taken. They contend that the River Authority’s intake tower is a necessary part for the operation of the City’s pump station, and that it is not remote, speculative or conjectural and would have an effect on the market value of the remainder of the property. These instructions, they argue, therefore place a greater restriction on the evidence which the jury can consider than the law requires.

The record reflects that the River Authority acquired from appellants the land upon which the intake tower is to be placed before these proceedings were begun by the City, and that there was no restriction upon the River Authority as to the use to be made of such land.

Article 3265, Section 3, Vernon’s Ann.Tex.Civ.St, provides, as part of the measure of damages, when only a portion of a tract of a person’s real estate is condemned, that a determination be made as to whether the remaining portion is increased or diminished in value by reason of such condemnation. It is settled law that this element of damages is measured by the difference, if any, in the market value of the remainder of the entire tract immediately before and immediately after the appropriation. State v. Carpenter, 126 Tex. 604, 89 S.W.2d 194 (1936); City of Austin v. Cannizzo, 153 Tex. 324, 267 S.W.2d 808 (1954); Wallace v. Van Zandt County, 264 S.W.2d 202 (Tex.Civ.App., Dallas, 1954, n.w.h.); City of Corsicana v. Marino, 282 S.W.2d 720 (Tex.Civ.App., Waco, 1955, n.w.h.).

*774 Appellants urge in their Brief that the universal rule in all American jurisdictions is that any (their emphasis) element which a willing buyer or a willing seller would take into consideration would or could be considered by a jury in arriving at the remainder’s value prior to and after the taking, citing as Texas authority, the case of State v. Carpenter, supra.

While we do not disagree with appellants’ quote from Texas Law of Condemnation, Sec. 93, p. 331, citing State v. Carpenter, supra, or the quote from Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District v. Costello, 169 S.W.2d 977 (Tex.Civ.App., Eastland, 1943, err. ref., w.o.m.), the condemnee is entitled only to receive just compensation for his land taken — which includes damages inflicted upon him by reason of the taking — such a sum as would put him in as good a position pecuniarily as he would have been if his property had not been taken. Article 1, Section 17, Texas Constitution, Vernon’s Ann.St.; Article 3265, Secs. 1, 3, and 4, V.A.T.S.; Schlottman v. Wharton County, 259 S.W.2d 325 (Tex.Civ.App., Fort Worth, 1953, dismissed); Gregory v. Gulf & I. Ry. Co., 21 Tex.Civ.App. 598, 54 S.W. 617 (1899, dismissed). The proposed construction of the intake tower by the River Authority upon its own property does not constitute a taking of appellants’ property by the City of Tyler, even though the City will make use of the intake tower. If recoverable damages have, in fact, been done to appellants’ land by the proximity of the tower, they must look to the River Authority for restitution.

We are of the opinion that the rule as to admissible evidence on market value is not as broad as that urged by appellants, i. e., that any fact, without restriction, is admissible if it tends to affect market value. Involved here is a proposed structure not on the land in question. Our recent opinion in State v. Wilson, 439 S.W.2d 134 (Tex.Civ.App., Tyler, 1969, n.w.h.), is based upon the proposition that the con-demnor is not liable in damages to the con-demnee for injuries to the community at large. 1

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Bluebook (online)
454 S.W.2d 771, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 1852, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-v-city-of-tyler-texapp-1970.