Desha v. Independence County Bridge District No. 1

18 S.W.2d 337, 179 Ark. 561, 1929 Ark. LEXIS 115
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 20, 1929
StatusPublished

This text of 18 S.W.2d 337 (Desha v. Independence County Bridge District No. 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Desha v. Independence County Bridge District No. 1, 18 S.W.2d 337, 179 Ark. 561, 1929 Ark. LEXIS 115 (Ark. 1929).

Opinion

Smith, J.

By special act No. 338 of the 1925 session of the General Assembly (Acts 1925, page 977), Independence County Bridge District No. 1 was created for the purpose of constructing a bridge across White River at or near Batesville. The district was unable to acquire the right-of-way, and it became necessary to condemn it, and a suit for that purpose was brought pursuant to § 3 of the act. Judgment was rendered in the suit in favor of the landowner for the property so condemned in the sum of $3,040. This judgment was reversed on the appeal to this court, and the opinion then rendered states fully the facts out of which the present appeal arises, and it will be unnecessary to repeat them. Desha v. Independence County Bridge Dist. No. 1, 176 Ark. 253, 3 S. W. (2d) 969. As stated in the former opinion, the landowner whose land was condemned as a site for the bridge owned lands on both sides of the river, and operated a ferry across the river at or near the bridge site. At the time of the trial from which this appeal comes the bridge had been completed and was in operation, and the value of the ferry franchise had been destroyed, and the ferry was no longer operated.

The court charged the jury that the landowner was entitled to recover as damages the market value of the land taken, and “market value” was defined. The jury was also told that the term market value “includes the value for any and all legitimate purposes for which it may be adapted. If, by reason of its location, its natural or physical advantages, and its intrinsic character, it is peculiarly adapted and valuable for a particular use, such as a site for a ferry, or a bridge, such value should be considered in determining its market value.”

The court also charged the jury that: “In determining the damage to which you believe the defendant Desha is entitled by reason of the taking of his land by the plaintiff bridge district, you should not consider any loss or damage he may have sustained or will sustain by reason of the loss of revedme or income from the ferry on accoimt of the construction of the bridge.” Specific objections were made to the portion of the instruction appearing in italics, which raise the questions hereinafter discussed. The court had previously refused to give instructions numbered 1 and 2 requested by appellant, which read as follows:

“1. You are instructed that any person owning lands fronting on opposite banks of a navigable stream in this State is entitled to the sole and exclusive right of ferriage at such place, and when a ferry is once legally established and «01111111168 to operate in the manner provided by law, the owner thereof cannot be deprived of said right and the resulting benefits without compensation therefor.
“2. You are instructed that, in fixing the amount of damages to be awarded to the defendant, you should consider the right or franchise to operate the ferry as a permanent and continuing right, and not subject to destruction or condemnation by legislative act without just compensation to the owner. ’ ’

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the landowner for $6,000, and there appears to be no question that this is full compensation for all damages which he sustained, except for the loss in value of the ferry franchise. Appellant reviews the legislation of this State in regard to ferries and the decisions of this court construing this legislation; but we do not do so, for the reason that the plaintiff improvement district did not propose to establish, and has not, in fact, established, another ferry, nor has it condemned or taken appellant’s franchise to operate the ferry. It is, of course, an undisputed fact that by the construction of the bridge another way to cross the river has been created, which the traveling public uses, and the value of the ferry franchise has been thereby destroyed. Must the bridge district, for this reason, compensate the ferry owner for the loss of profits and future earnings thus sustained? The answer to this question is decisive of the present appeal.

Witnesses for appellant were asked what, in their opinion, was the market value of appellant’s land, and various answers were given, the value being placed at from $25,000 to $60,000, but the witnesses who so answered all admitted that this valuation was based upon the assumption of the continued permanent earnings of the ferry under an undisturbed franchise. When told by the court that this was not the proper basis to establish the market value of the property, these witnesses revised their estimate, and exceptions were saved to these rulings of the court.

This last-mentioned ruling of the court conforms to the opinion on rehearing on the former appeal, where it was said that “a majority of the court are of the opinion that the evidence as to the amount of revenue or income from the ferry was not competent testimony.” By this it was meant that the market value of the land taken for the bridge could not he determined by taking into account the earnings of the ferry as a right in perpetuity. It was not contended that there was any interference with or diminution in the earnings of the ferry until after the completion of the bridge. This was not a proceeding to condemn and acquire the ferry. Had this been a suit to acquire the ferry for some agency of the State, its earning power would have been a proper matter to take into account in determining its value. But such is not the purpose of the suit. The suit is one to condemn and acquire a site for a bridge. And while it is true, as has been said, that the exercise of this .right and the construction of the bridge has destroyed the value of the ferry franchise, this is an incident to, and not the purpose of, the suit.

Appellant makes the fundamental mistake of assuming that his right to the ferry franchise, resulting from his ownership of the land on the opposite bardes of the river, is a right in perpetuity. It is not. In the case of McClintock v. White River Bridge Co., 171 Ark. 943, 287 S. W. 163, the owner of a ferry franchise made substantially the same contention against the owner of a bridge franchise, it being true in that case, as it is in this, that the erection of a bridge destroyed the value of the ferry franchise, but it was there said: “In the case of White River Bridge Company v. Hurd, 159 Ark. 652, 252 S. W. 917, one of the contentions was that the toll-bridge privilege was exclusive, and, when conferred by the county court, that court could not thereafter grant a ferry franchise to any one to operate a ferry within a mile of tlie bridge. We upheld this contention, and cited § 10258, C. & M. Digest, concerning the exclusive toll-bridge privileges. And in the case of McClintock v. Bovay, supra (163 S. W. 388), we cited the case of White River Bridge Co. v. Hurd, supra, and stated: ‘The effect of that decision was to hold that a franchise to bnild a toll-bridge is superior to a ferry franchise, for the reason that a 'bridge is more to the convenience and benefit of the public, and for that reason the statute, in express terms, had made the bridge franchise exclusive. The fact that appellant has obtained his license from year to year (to operate a ferry) does not deprive the county court of the power, under the statute, to grant an exclusive privilege in that' territory to construct and operate a toll-bridge.’ ”

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Related

Larson v. South Dakota
278 U.S. 429 (Supreme Court, 1929)
McClintock v. White River Bridge Co.
287 S.W. 163 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1926)
Desha v. Independence County Bridge District No. 1
3 S.W.2d 969 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1928)
Generes v. Security Life Ins. Co. of America
163 S.W. 386 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1914)
Larson v. State
215 N.W. 880 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1927)
White River Bridge Co. v. Hurd
252 S.W. 917 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1923)

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Bluebook (online)
18 S.W.2d 337, 179 Ark. 561, 1929 Ark. LEXIS 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/desha-v-independence-county-bridge-district-no-1-ark-1929.