City of Houston v. Plantation Land Company

440 S.W.2d 691, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2738
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 5, 1969
Docket227
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 440 S.W.2d 691 (City of Houston v. Plantation Land Company) 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
City of Houston v. Plantation Land Company, 440 S.W.2d 691, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2738 (Tex. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinions

TUNKS, Chief Justice.

On September 5, 1968, the City of Houston filed a Statement in Condemnation ■with the Judge of the County Civil Court at Law No. 1 of Harris County, Texas. The property sought to be acquired by such condemnation was a fill easement to furnish lateral support to a street. The owners of the land in question are Plantation Land Company, a corporation, and Mrs. Oledia M. Hodges. The proceeding so filed was given the identification “Administrative No. 1759.” Special commissioners were appointed and sworn, a hearing set for October 24, 1968 and the owners were given notice.

On October 23, 1968, the owners filed a separate suit in the County Civil Court at Law No. 1 of Harris County designating the City of Houston and the appointed commissioners defendants. By this suit the owners sought a temporary and permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from proceeding with the condemnation of, and taking possession of, their property under the proceedings identified as Administrative No. 1759. The basis upon which the owners sought such injunctive relief was an allegation that the City had not, in good faith, attempted to agree with them on the value of the land and the damages that would result from the taking. After a hearing the trial court granted the owners’ petition for temporary injunction. The City has appealed.

The Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 1 is a legislative court. It is given jurisdiction over matters of eminent domain. Article 1970-110d, Vernon’s Ann. Tex.Civ.St. That is to say, controversies in eminent domain are within the scope of the judicial power which it is given by the statute. The court, however, may not exercise that judicial power until its jurisdiction is invoked in the manner required by law. State v. Olsen, (Tex.Sup.Ct.), 360 S.W.2d 398.

In addition to the judicial power of the Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 1, it is, by the above cited statute, given “administrative and ministerial jurisdiction” in matters of eminent domain. This administrative jurisdiction is invoked by the filing, by a condemnor having power of eminent domain, of a petition for condemnation in proper form and the service of notice. City of Houston v. Kunze, 153 Tex. 42, 262 S.W.2d 947. Article 3264, V.A.T.S. The judicial power of the court in eminent domain is invoked by the timely filing of objection to the award of the special commissioners. Pearson v. State, 159 Tex. 66, 315 S.W.2d 935.

The question with which we are presented by this appeal is: May the county court try the issue of good faith negotiation in a separate suit for injunction filed by the owners, or must that issue be tried when the county court’s judicial jurisdiction is invoked by the filing of an objection to the Commissioners’ award?

The City of Houston, in its statement of condemnation, recited all of the facts necessary to invoke the administrative condemnation jurisdiction of the trial court, including a recitation that it had been unable to agree with the owners as to value and damages. The sufficiency of the statement of condemnation, itself, is not questioned. The owners’ petition for injunction is based solely on the allegations that the City had not negotiated in good faith before filing its statement.

Good faith negotiation by the con-demnor with the land owner is a prerequi[694]*694site to the condemnor’s exercise of its power of eminent domain. On the trial of the case a finding on sufficient evidence that the condemnor has not so negotiated will defeat its right to acquire the property. Lapsley v. State, Tex.Civ.App., 405 S.W.2d 406, writ ref., n.r.e.

Article 3266, V.A.T.S., at Sec. 6, provides that a party dissatisfied with the commissioners’ award may file objections with the judge and “thereupon” after service, “the cause shall be tried and determined as in other civil causes in the county court.” Such language is suggestive of the conclusion that the court’s jurisdiction to try the issue of good faith negotiation, one of the issues of the civil cause, is invoked by the filing of the objection to the award.

In Pearson v. State, supra, at p. 937, the Court, after quoting sections 6 and 7 of Art. 3266, said, “The jurisdiction of the court over such matters is special and depends upon the provisions of Art. 3266 quoted above * *

The cause of Rabb v. LaFeria Mut. Canal Co., 62 Tex.Civ.App. 24, 130 S.W. 916, err. ref., was an appeal from an order dissolving a temporary injunction in the district court. Rabb, claiming to be the owner of a tract of land, filed a trespass to try title suit against the canal company in the district court. The canal company then filed a condemnation proceeding in the county court. Special commissioners were appointed, held a hearing and made an award to which objection was filed. The canal company then moved the district court to dissolve a temporary injunction previously granted preventing its entering the property. Rabb, by supplemental petition filed in the district court, alleged that the injunction should not be dissolved because of the invalidity of the condemnation proceeding for the reason, among others, “of the absence of the fact * * * that condemnor and the landowner had been unable to agree on the damages.” The district court dissolved the injunction in part and the owner appealed. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. At p. 918, the Court said:

“ * * * It is correctly stated in the brief of appellant that, under the statute, neither the county judge, upon the filing of the statement with him, nor the commissioners, upon the hearing with regard to the damages, can inquire into the truth of the facts upon which this jurisdiction is invoked, but that this cannot be done until the hearing in the county court of the appeal from the award of the commissioners. This appeal is now pending and is yet to be heard, so that, up to the time the motion to dissolve the injunction was heard in the district court, the condemnation proceedings were, as found by the district judge, in all respects legal and regular.”

In City of Dallas v. Crawford, Tex.Civ.App., 222 S.W. 305, writ dismd., in discussing whether negotiation as to value and damages was necessary before filing a statement of condemnation under the then effective statute, Art. 6506, Revised Civil Statutes of 1911, the Court said:

“ * * * It has been held that neither the county judge nor the commissioners appointed to assess damages can inquire into the truth of the statements contained in the written application. Such inquiry would be proper only upon a hearing in the county court on appeal from the commissioners.”

It is true that at the time of the decision in the Rabb case and the Crawford case, different statutes with reference to procedure in eminent domain were in effect, but there was no substantial difference, relevant to the question here involved, between those statutes and the ones now in effect.

In White River Municipal Water District v. Walker, Tex.Civ.App., 370 S.W.2d 945, no writ hist., the Water District filed a condemnation proceeding in the county court. The commissioners hearing was had and the damages awarded were deposited [695]

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City of Houston v. Plantation Land Company
440 S.W.2d 691 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
440 S.W.2d 691, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-houston-v-plantation-land-company-texapp-1969.