City of Albuquerque v. Westland Development Co.

909 P.2d 25, 121 N.M. 144
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 28, 1995
Docket15667
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 909 P.2d 25 (City of Albuquerque v. Westland Development Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Albuquerque v. Westland Development Co., 909 P.2d 25, 121 N.M. 144 (N.M. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

HARTZ, Judge.

1. Westland Development Company, Inc., (Westland) appeals a district court judgment awarding it $75,000 as compensation for a taking by the City of Albuquerque (City) of 22.788 acres out of a 14,977.21 acre parcel owned by Westland. The parcel is on the west side of Albuquerque south of Interstate 40 near the Paseo del Volcan exit to Interstate 40. The portion taken was a 60-foob-wide right of way for an access road leading from the frontage road on the south side of Interstate 40 to the Cerro Colorado Landfill, which adjoins the southern portion of the western border of Westland’s parcel. The frontage road and landfill were already City-owned property. To prepare for the operation'of the landfill, the City not only built the access road through Westland’s parcel but also upgraded the frontage road on the northern boundary of the parcel from a gravel road to a two-lane asphalt highway. During normal operation of the landfill a steady flow of garbage trucks passes along the frontage road and then down the access road to the landfill. The following diagram shows the locations of the features that are relevant to this decision.

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2. The trial judge instructed the jury that Westland was entitled to damages for the value of the right of way taken from West-land and for any reduction in the value of the remainder of Westland’s parcel “resulting from the use by vehicles of the Cerro Colorado Landfill in traversing the road constructed on the condemned property.” Westland’s principal contention on appeal is that the trial judge improperly limited the damages that it could recover for the reduction in value of the uncondemned portion of its parcel. According to Westland, not only should it be entitled to the reduction in value of the uncondemned portion arising from the use of the access road, but also it should be entitled to any reduction in value caused by the proximity of the landfill and the increased use of the frontage road. Westland argues that the opening of the landfill, the building of the access road, and the upgrading of the frontage road are all part of one project, the Cerro Colorado Landfill project (the Project), and it is entitled to compensation for the reduction in the value of its uneondemned land caused by the entire Project, not just for damages caused by use of the access road. In addition, Westland argues that the following errors require reversal of the judgment: (1) the trial judge violated the pretrial order in allowing the City to introduce certain evidence, (2) the trial judge misled West-land into limiting the testimony it presented, (3) the trial judge denied Westland due process of law by not allowing two Westland directors the right to attend the entire trial, (4) the trial judge improperly refused to permit a member of the Westland board to testify regarding damages, (5) the trial judge improperly refused to permit Westland to introduce impeachment evidence on cross-examination of City witnesses, and (6) the trial judge improperly excluded photographs and denied a jury view. We affirm.

I. MEASURE OF DAMAGES FOR TAKING

3. The City commenced this case by filing a verified complaint for condemnation pursuant to the New Mexico Eminent Domain Code, NMSA 1978, § 42A-1-1 through -33 (Repl.Pamp.1994). Under the New Mexico Constitution, “Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.” N.M. Const, art. II, § 20. Section 42A-1-26 sets forth the measure of just compensation that should be awarded when only a portion of a parcel has been taken. It states:

In any condemnation proceeding in which there is a partial taking of property, the measure of compensation and damages resulting from the taking shall be the difference between the fair market value of the entire property immediately before the taking and the fair market value of the property remaining immediately after the taking. In determining such difference, all elements which would enhance or diminish the fair market value before and after the taking shall be considered even though some of the damages sustained by the remaining property, in themselves, might otherwise be deemed noncompensable. Further, in determining such values or differences therein, elements which would enhance or benefit any property not taken shall only be considered for the purpose of offsetting any damages or diminution of value to the property not taken.

Section 42A-1-26 simply codifies what is required to satisfy the constitutional command of “just compensation.” See State ex rel. State Highway Cormn’n v. Hesselden Inv. Co., 84 N.M. 424, 426, 504 P.2d 634, 636 (1972), overruled on other grounds by County of Dona Ana ex rel. Board of County Commr’s v. Bennett, 116 N.M. 778, 867 P.2d 1160 (1994). We therefore may look for guidance to courts and other authorities who have construed requirements of “just compensation” in various state constitutions and in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

4. The apparent simplicity of the statutory formula — “the difference between the fair market value of the entire property immediately before the taking and the fair market value of the property remaining immediately after the taking” — is deceptive. The “before and after” formulation of the rule establishes the temporal component of the calculation — the moment for which the calculation is to be made, see generally Bennett — but there is also a “causation” component. The necessity of the causation component becomes apparent when one considers how a purely temporal before-and-after calculation — one with only a temporal component — would work in practice. The result would likely be an award of little or no compensation for diminution of value of the uneondemned portion of the property. To establish the fair market value of the uncondemned portion immediately before the taking, one would estimate what price prospective purchasers would have offered at that time. But such hypothetical purchasers would necessarily take into account that a condemnation would occur soon (or immediately) after the purchase and that the value of the remaining property would be enhanced or diminished by the use to be made of the portion taken. Thus, the fair market value of the uncondemned portion would be essentially the same immediately before and immediately after the taking, because immediately before the taking the prospective purchaser would know with virtual certainty that a taking would be consummated. 1

5. What is missing from a purely temporal before-and-after rule is the recognition that just compensation requires payment for the diminution in property value caused by the taking. To compensate justly for the taking, the “before” value must be calculated as if no taking were to take place and the “after” value calculated as if the taking had already occurred. Then the calculation computes the diminution in value caused by the condemnation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
909 P.2d 25, 121 N.M. 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-albuquerque-v-westland-development-co-nmctapp-1995.