Cities Service Gas Co. v. Huebner

1948 OK 77, 197 P.2d 985, 200 Okla. 521, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 357
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 30, 1948
DocketNo. 32943
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 1948 OK 77 (Cities Service Gas Co. v. Huebner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cities Service Gas Co. v. Huebner, 1948 OK 77, 197 P.2d 985, 200 Okla. 521, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 357 (Okla. 1948).

Opinion

HURST, C.J.

The Cities Service Gas Company appeals from a judgment entered on the verdict of the jury in a condemnation proceeding wherein the company condemned a pipe-line right of way across two quarter sections of land in Beaver county belonging to E. H. Huebner and Augusta Huebner, his wife. The right of way covered a strip [522]*522of land 82.5 feet wide and containing approximately ten acres. The commissioners fixed the damages to the land at $250 and allowed nothing for crop damage. The award was filed on September 9, 1943. In due time, Mr. and Mrs. Huebner filed their demand for a jury trial. The cause was tried to a jury on May 7, 1946, and after the works had been completed. The defendants called as witnesses five men, other than Huebner, who testified that the value of the land at the time of its appropriation was $50 per acre and that the depreciation in the value of the remainder of the farm, caused by the appropriation, was from $10 to $15 per acre. On the other hand, the plaintiff called several witnesses who testified that the depreciation in the value of the land, caused by the appropriation, was from $250 to not over $387.50 per quarter section or $2.50 per acre. Witnesses for defendants testified that the pipe line was a 24-inch line and was buried several feet deep; that the plaintiff used bulldozers and other heavy machinery in laying the pipe line and in places got over on land not included in the right of way; that pieces of wood, iron and asphalt were left on the right of way and partly buried; that the fertility of the soil where the line was laid was injured; that erosion would result from the leaving of the infertile subsoil on top of the ground and making a ridge where the line was buried; that holes were left in the right of way; and that the fact that a pipe line crossed the farm depreciated the market value of the land. At the request of the plaintiff, the jury was permitted to view the premises.

The jury returned a verdict for $1,600 for the value of the land taken and the damages to the remainder of the land, $216 for one-third of the value of the crops damaged or destroyed, and $25 for an abstract, making the total damages in the sum of $1,841, for which judgment was rendered.

The plaintiff argues the case under three general propositions:

1. Under the first general proposition, three specific questions are argued.

a. It is first contended that the evidence does not reasonably tend to support the judgment. We have set out above a summary of the testimony on this question, which refutes this contention. The highest estimate of depreciation to the land not taken was $15 per acre, or $4,650. All the witnesses agreed that the value of the 10 acres condemned was $50 per acre, or $500. It follows that the evidence supported the judgment for $1,600 for the value of the land taken and the damage to the remainder of the two farms.

b. Plaintiff next argues that instructions Nos. 3 and 8 are conflicting. No. 3 had to do with the rights of plaintiff to ingress and egress for the purpose of inspecting, maintaining and repairing the pipe line, and the right of the landowner to cultivate over the right of way subject to such rights, and reverter in case of abandonment. No. 8 properly defines just compensation for the taking. We find no conflict between the two instructions.

c. Plaintiff next complains of the giving of instructions Nos. 9 and 14. No. 14 is as follows:

“In ascertaining the amount of damages it is proper among other things to consider the inconveniences and annoyances likely to arise in the orderly exercise or conduct of the enterprise which interferes with the use and proper enjoyment of the property by the owner and which sensibly impairs its value.”

No. 9 is substantially identical with No. 14. It is urged that the exact duplication tended to mislead and confuse the jury, and that although such language is found in some decisions of this court, it seems to have been laid down in a case involving a septic tank and sewer and, without the use of the expression “if any”, it is prejudicial error in the instant case because speculative elements of damage are injected into the jury’s thinking. Plaintiff [523]*523cites no authority supporting the contention that the giving of duplicate instructions constitutes reversible error. The jury must be deemed to have been men of common sense, who would regard it as only inadvertent duplication.

The rule of law contained in these instructions was first stated in Incorporated Town of Sallisaw v. Priest, 61 Okla. 9, 159 P. 1093, a septic sewer case. We reiterated the rule in Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. v. Coppedge, 110 Okla. 261, 237 P. 592, a gas pipe line. We find no merit in this contention.

2. The plaintiff’s second general proposition is that the judgment is contrary to law. Again three distinct questions are argued under this proposition.

a. Plaintiff argues that the evidence that land off the right of way was damaged, and that pieces of pipe, iron and asphalt were left on and off the right of way during the laying of the line established negligence, and that in assessing damages in an eminent domain proceeding nothing can be allowed for negligence or trespass. The question was first raised by the plaintiff, the defendants merely introducing evidence as to what was done as an incident to laying the line. They introduced no evidence that such acts were not reasonably necessary in order to lay the line. Their evidence was calculated to establish the elements entering into the depreciation in the value of the land caused by the exercise of the power of eminent domain. Plaintiff cites authorities that seem to support this contention. But, the authorities are divided on this question, where, as here, the works have been completed prior to the trial. In Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. v. Miller Bros., 101 Ranch Trust, 173 Okla. 101, 46 P. 2d 570, relied upon by plaintiff, it does not seem that the works had been completed at the time of the trial, and the error on which the reversal was based was that the trial court permitted the introduction of evidence to the effect that in repairing the line the condemnor would have the right of ingress and egress over the entire farm instead of only where the right of way entered and left the farm. In the later cases of Oklahoma City v. Collins-Dietz-Morris Co., 183 Okla. 264, 79 P. 2d 791, and State v. Adams, 187 Okla. 673, 105 P. 2d 416, we pointed out that the con-demnee is entitled to be fully compensated for his damages irrespective of negligence. In this connection, see 124 A.L.R. 416, note. Some of the cases holding that no allowance can be made for willful or negligent acts were cases where the trial was had before the works were constructed, which is clearly correct, since damages for such acts that may not occur would be based entirely upon conjecture and speculation. We are committed to the rule thát, where the trial is had after the works are completed, it is proper to assess the damages on the basis of the facts existing at the time of the trial, since the element of conjecture and speculation is then absent. State v. Winters, 195 Okla. 243, 156 P. 2d 798; Arkansas Valley & W. Ry. Co. v. Witt, 19 Okla. 262, 91 P. 897. The rule allowing the jury to consider the damages resulting from trespass or negligence, where the works are completed at the time of the trial, is based upon two reasons, (1) to avoid a multiplicity of suits as stated in Arkansas Missouri Power Co. v. Killian (Mo.) 40 S. W.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

STATE ex rel. DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION v. TRADE WINDS MOTOR HOTEL EAST
484 P.3d 301 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2020)
State Ex Rel. Department of Transportation v. Perdue
2008 OK 103 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2008)
Curtis v. WFEC Railroad Co.
2000 OK 26 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2000)
Delhi Gas Pipeline Corporation v. Swanson
1974 OK 26 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1974)
Opinion No. 70-273 (1970) Ag
Oklahoma Attorney General Reports, 1970
Wilkerson v. Thrash
1969 OK CIV APP 18 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1969)
Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company v. Ackley
1965 OK 198 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1965)
Graham v. City of Duncan
1960 OK 149 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1960)
American Louisiana Pipe Line Co. v. Kennerk
144 N.E.2d 660 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1957)
Independent School District v. C. B. Lauch Construction Co.
305 P.2d 1077 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1957)
Kelly v. Oklahoma Turnpike Authority
1954 OK 112 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1954)
Cities Service Gas Co. v. Williams
1948 OK 78 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1948 OK 77, 197 P.2d 985, 200 Okla. 521, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cities-service-gas-co-v-huebner-okla-1948.