Cornish Town v. Koller

817 P.2d 305, 166 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1991 Utah LEXIS 66, 1991 WL 144443
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 1, 1991
Docket880121
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 817 P.2d 305 (Cornish Town v. Koller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cornish Town v. Koller, 817 P.2d 305, 166 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1991 Utah LEXIS 66, 1991 WL 144443 (Utah 1991).

Opinion

HOWE, Associate Chief Justice:

Defendants Evan 0. Roller and Marlene B. Roller, his wife, appeal from a judgment for $59,670 entered on a special jury verdict in their favor and against plaintiff Cornish Town.

FACTS

Cornish Town commenced this action in July 1986 to condemn approximately one hundred acres of Rollers’ land for the purpose of creating protection zones around Griffiths and Pearson Springs, which are on Rollers’ property. The springs are a source of water for Cornish Town’s culinary system as well as for Rollers’ household. Cornish sought protection zones which cover a 1,500-foot radius around the springs in an attempt to reduce the high nitrate level in the water. Cornish also sought rights-of-way and access to the springs over another seven acres of Rollers’ land. State water quality officials had advised Cornish that agricultural fertilization contributed to the high nitrate level. In response, commencing on September 24, 1981, Cornish enacted a series of ordinances authorizing the creation of these protection zones and prohibiting within them the use of pesticides and fertilizers, the keeping or grazing of animals, and human habitation.

After commencing the action, Cornish filed a motion for an order of immediate occupancy. After a three-day hearing where both parties presented evidence, the trial court granted the motion, concluding that there was competent evidence that it was “necessary and essential” that Cornish acquire the protection zones. The court further found that Cornish had not acted in bad faith and had not abused its discretion in bringing its action. Rollers filed a motion for partial summary judgment to fix the date of the taking of the property at September 24, 1981, when the first ordinance, No. 81-1, took effect. The motion was denied.

At the outset of the trial, Cornish moved to amend its complaint to seek only a perpetual easement over the one hundred acres after Rollers disclosed that they were going to claim that mineral deposits underlay the land. The amendment was granted. Rollers proffered evidence that deposits of zeolite underlay 94 acres of the property sought to be condemned, but the court would not admit that evidence or evidence that the estimated value of the deposits was $38 million, opining that their claim of mineral deposits was speculative. The court ruled that the issue of whether Rollers had a right to extract the minerals should be determined if and when they decided to mine the zeolite. Rollers also presented evidence as to wildlife resources on the land, specifically, a deer herd protected by them. However, they were not allowed to present a mathematical calcula *308 tion of the potential monetary loss of future sales of hunting access permits.

Rollers attempted to present evidence that the taking would not improve the quality of the spring water. The trial court refused to hear the evidence, stating that public use and necessity had already been determined at the hearing on the motion for an order of immediate occupancy. The jury returned a special verdict in favor of Rollers for $59,670; they appeal.

I

Rollers contend that the trial court erred in denying them the opportunity to present evidence at trial on the question of whether the taking by Cornish was necessary and that they were entitled to have the jury determine that issue. Cornish responds that at the hearing on the motion for an order of immediate occupancy, the court properly determined, as a matter of law, that public use and necessity had been established by Cornish and that no showing had been made of bad faith, fraud, or abuse of discretion on its part.

A

Utah Code Ann. § 78-34-4 provides in part:

Before property can be taken it must appear:
(1) That the use to which it is to be applied is a use authorized by law;
(2) That the taking is necessary to such use....

Rollers’ contention that they were entitled to a trial on the issue of necessity is based upon Utah State Road Commission v. Friberg, 687 P.2d 821, 832 (Utah 1984). In that case, this court primarily addressed the issue of the effect of delay in the prosecution of a condemnation action on the valuation of the property. We also determined that the hearing on the motion for an order of immediate occupancy was not a trial on the merits and thus res judicata did not operate. Id. at 833.

An order of immediate occupancy is entered pendente lite and only authorizes the State to take immediate possession until a final adjudication of the merits....
The State’s right to condemn, if challenged, can finally be determined only after a trial on the merits, not at a hearing on the motion for immediate occupancy. Since an order of immediate occupancy only requires prima facie proof of the right to condemn, that order is not a final adjudication on the merits. Res judicata has no application in the absence of a final adjudication.

Id. (footnote and citations omitted).

There are important differences between the procedure followed by the trial court in Friberg and that followed by the trial court in the instant case. First, it appears that in Friberg, the state, the condemnor, presented only prima facie proof of the right to condemn at the hearing on the motion for an order of immediate occupancy. It does not appear that the condemnee presented any evidence. However, at the hearing in the instant case, both Rollers and Cornish Town introduced testimony and evidence in a three-day hearing, with Rollers vigorously challenging the necessity for the proposed taking. Second, following the hearing in Friberg, the order of immediate occupancy contained no findings or conclusions on the state’s authority to condemn. The order stated that issues relating to the state’s authority to condemn were to be decided in a “further hearing” and that the order was issued “pending further hearing and trial on the issues that may be presented in the action.” Id. In contrast, in the instant case the trial court made and entered written findings as to the state’s authority to condemn:

6. Although some experts may differ as to both the source of the nitrate contamination and the recommendations with respect to action which should be taken to alleviate the problem, that is not for the court to decide and there is substantial support in the record for the conclusions reached by Cornish town based on valid recommendations in doing the best they could to protect and improve the water supply. The Town has *309 acted reasonably and in good faith in its plan to improve the System as outlined to the Court.
7. In order to carry out its plan for improving the water supply, it is necessary and essential that Cornish acquire the protection zones in the watershed of the Griffiths Spring and Pearson Spring.

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Bluebook (online)
817 P.2d 305, 166 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1991 Utah LEXIS 66, 1991 WL 144443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cornish-town-v-koller-utah-1991.