Coastal Transmission Corporation v. Lennox

331 S.W.2d 778, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 873, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 1962
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 27, 1960
Docket13549
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 331 S.W.2d 778 (Coastal Transmission Corporation v. Lennox) 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
Coastal Transmission Corporation v. Lennox, 331 S.W.2d 778, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 873, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 1962 (Tex. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

BARROW, Justice.

This is an appeal by Coastal Transmission Corporation from a judgment on a jury verdict in a proceeding brought under the power of eminent domain. The judgment complained of awarded Mrs. Edna Lennox and her tenant, Roy Smith, $11,142.67 for a gas pipeline right-of-way and easement 50 feet in width, containing 3.523 acres, and for damages to the remainder of a tract of 175 acres of land from which the right-of-way was severed and for loss of crops.

By its first, second, third and fourth points, appellant contends that the court erred in rendering judgment in favor of appellee Mrs. Edna Lennox for the sum of $10,847.67, for the reason that there is no evidence and insufficient evidence to establish the number of acres remaining in the 175' acre tract after taking the condemned strip of land, and that the court erred in finding that the remaiftder contained 171.477 acres. These points boil down to the contention that the evidence *781 does not establish that the entire tract, including the strip condemned, contained 175 acres of land. We overrule these points.

Appellees plead that the tract contained approximately 175 acres. During the entire trial there was. no serious contention or dispute as to the number of acres. Counsel for both sides and the witnesses for both sides referred to the land as a 175-acre tract. Appellant, for the first time, raised such contention in its motion for new trial. It is evident from the record that all parties considered the tract as containing 175 acres.

The trial court submitted the case to the jury in strict conformity with the rule laid down by the. Supreme Court in State v. Carpenter, 126 Tex. 604, 89 S.W.2d 194, 979, except that the issues required the jury to find the value of the land in each instance by the acre rather than the value of the entire tract inquired about. Thus, if the tract contained 175 acres it was a simple process for the court to subtract therefrom the 3.523 acres condemned and arrive at the 171.477 acres remaining.

We think there is still another reason why appellant’s points must be overruled. Even if it be true that there was a genuine issue as to the number of acres in the tract, then it would require another issue in addition to the one submitted. Thus, there would be two issues forming a cluster or group to make up the controlling issue or independent ground of recovery, i. e., the price per acre and the number of acres. Appellant made no exception to the court’s charge for failure to submit the issue as to the number of acres in the tract. The court, under the circumstances, is authorized to make the finding on the second issue, provided there is evidence in the record upon which to make such finding, and this is. true even though the evidence may be conflicting. Rule 279, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

The trial court in the judgment expressly made such finding, which is supported by the following evidence: Roy Smith, a witness for appellee, testified the tract contained approximately 175 acres; Gordon Stewart, 172 or 175 acres; Thos. Givens, appellant’s witness, 180 acres; Gilbert Isenberg, 175 acres; and Howard Jones, an employee in the Tax Assessor’s office, 183 acres.

By its fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth,’ • eleventh' and twelfth points, appellant contends that the jury’s findings in response to Special Issues Nos. 1, 3 and 4, are not supported by sufficient evidence and that such findings are' “contrary to and against the weight and preponderance of the evidence,” and that there is no evidence to support the findings in response to such issues. Appellant has briefed these points jointly, so we shall in like manner consider them.

In answer to Special Issue No. 1, the jury found the market value of the average acre of the 3.523-acre strip condemned, immediately before the taking, to •be $1,000, considered as severed land. In ■answer to Special Issue No. 2, the jury found the value of the average acre of such tract, immediately after taking, to be $400, considered as severed land. In answer to Special Issue No. 3, it found that the average acre of- the remainder was- of the value of $1,400 immediately before the taking, and in answer to'Special Issue No. 4, found the value to be $1,349.65 immediately after the taking.

The law is well settled that if a finding of the jury is supported by evidence of probative force, that finding is binding and cannot be set aside, unless the finding is so against, the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and manifestly unjust. King v. King, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660; Continental Bus System, Inc. v. Biggers, Tex.Civ.App., 322 S.W.2d 1.

Appellant contends thát since the expert witnesses did not segregate the condemned land from the remainder, but val *782 ued the tract per acre as a whole, there is no evidence of the value of either as severed land. That contention cannot be sustained. While the rule laid down in State v. Carpenter, supra, requires the jury to find the market value of the part condemned and the remainder, considered as segregated from each other, the rule does not apply to the introduction of evidence.

The expert witnesses for both parties testified to the value of the land on the average acre basis without objection, and there was no request that the evidence be limited to the value as severed from the remainder. From the voluminous record in this case, it is apparent that the jury had before it a full and complete picture of the land in question, its location, kind and character. The evidence showed that there were no improvements on any of the land, and the testimony offered by the expert witnesses on both sides considered the land as adapted for subdivision and development, and valued it accordingly. The jury had the benefit of the prices paid for numerous tracts of comparable land. It was the province of the jury, from the evidence as a whole, to find the value of the land in accordance with the court’s charge, which charge admittedly conformed to the rule in the Carpenter case.

The findings of the jury demonstrate that they scrupulously followed the court’s charge. They valued the condemned land, before taking, at $1,000 per acre, and valued the remainder, before taking, at $1,400 per acre. There was evidence to show that the land condemned was less valuable than the remainder, and from which the jury could determine the relative values. They valued the land, both that condemned and the remainder, and both before and after taking, well within the range between the highest and lowest estimates of the expert witnesses and well within the range between the highest and lowest sales prices of comparable lands, as shown by the record. Appellant’s contention must be overruled. City of Houston v. Collins, Tex.Civ.App., 310 S.W.2d 697; Floyd County v. Clements, Tex.Civ.App., 150 S.W.2d 447; State v. Davis, Tex.Civ.App., 140 S.W.2d 861.

Appellant relies on the decision in Wallace v.

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331 S.W.2d 778, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 873, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 1962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coastal-transmission-corporation-v-lennox-texapp-1960.