Dolezal v. City of Cedar Rapids

209 N.W.2d 84, 1973 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1061
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJuly 3, 1973
Docket55403
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 209 N.W.2d 84 (Dolezal v. City of Cedar Rapids) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dolezal v. City of Cedar Rapids, 209 N.W.2d 84, 1973 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1061 (iowa 1973).

Opinions

MASON, Justice.

Plaintiffs, Frank and Anna Dolezal, husband and wife, appealed to the district court from the assessment of damages by condemnation commissioners for the acquisition of a clearance easement and certain rights of construction directly affecting 45.37 acres of plaintiffs’ land and buildings located thereon. From the award based on a jury verdict in the district court, defendants, the City of Cedar Rapids and the Cedar Rapids Airport Commission, have appealed to this court.

Defendants do not assert the amount of the jury’s verdict is excessive. Rather, er[87]*87rors in admission of evidence and denial of requested instructions are assigned.

In 1929, plaintiffs purchased farmland located immediately east of the Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport, which airport is owned and operated by defendant — City of Cedar Rapids, and is under the management of defendant — Cedar Rapids Airport Commission. A north-south gravel road runs along the west boundary of plaintiffs’ property separating the farm from the airport. A railroad right of way and tracks are located between the road and plaintiffs’ premises. The land has never been used for anything but farming. Since July 14, 1959, the farm had been zoned D-Rural under a Linn County zoning ordinance. The condemnation proceedings affect only two existing structures, plaintiffs’ home and a barn.

June 4, 1970, the City of Cedar Rapids instituted condemnation proceedings pursuant to chapters 330 and 472, The Code, to acquire a clearance easement over plaintiffs’ land and to obtain the right to install and maintain double obstruction lights on buildings belonging to plaintiffs. The application for condemnation filed by the City expressly provides:

“For the acquisition by condemnation of a clearance or obstruction easement providing a clear zone approach at the east end of the East-West Runway, Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport, and at the Southeast end of the Northwest-Southeast Runway, Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport, and for the continuing right to construct, operate, and maintain double obstruction lights to be mounted on a house and barn shown on the plat covered by the clearance easement at the east end of the East-West Runway. i( ⅝ ‡
“6. The applicant specifically states that an avigation easement or the right to make free flights over the land is not sought nor required.
“7. The sole purpose of the acquisition of the clearance easements is to improve visibility and reduce hazards to the landing or taking off of aircraft at the Cedar Rapids Airport, * *

The court in City of Oakland v. Nutter, 13 Cal.App.3d 752, 763, 92 Cal.Rptr. 347, 353, points out that, “A distinction has been recognized between an ‘avigation’ or ‘flight’ easement and a ‘clearance’ or ‘obstruction’ easement.”

The following statement appears in footnote 13:

“In United States v. Brondum (5 Cir. 1959) 272 F.2d 642, the court observed with respect to the latter, ‘ * * * the right to cut trees and natural growth to a prescribed height and to remove man-made obstructions above a prescribed height * * * is sometimes referred to as a “flight obstruction easement”. Graphically and accurately, Judge Estes describes the easement as a “ceiling”. The purpose of the ceiling is to increase the margin of safety for flying by assuring that the glide zone will be free from natural growth or man-made obstructions and the pilot’s vision unobscured above a designated altitude.
“An avigation easement may or may not contain provisions dealing with obstructions, but, unlike a clearance easement, in express terms it permits free flights over the land in question. It provides not just for flights in the air as a public highway —in that sense no easement would be necessary; it provides for flights that may be so low and so frequent as to amount to a taking of the property.’ ”

On June 15 appointed commissioners appraised the consequent damages and filed their award in the amount of $3200.

Thereafter plaintiffs appealed to the district court, alleging in division 1 of their petition the value of the land had been diminished in five particulars. In division 2, plaintiffs sought a writ of mandamus to compel defendants to institute condemnation proceedings for the acquisition of an avigation easement. The trial court [88]*88concluded there was an improper joinder of actions in plaintiffs’ petition and ordered division 2 of the petition to be separately docketed as an equity action for writ of mandamus. Accordingly, the case proceeded to trial before a jury on division 1 of plaintiffs’ position. A verdict fixing plaintiffs’ damages in the amount of $46,500 was returned. Defendants moved for a new trial on the grounds the court erred in its ruling on the introduction of evidence and the refusal of instructions requested by defendants. The motion was overruled.

Defendants appeal from all final judgments and decisions entered in favor of plaintiffs, assigning three grounds for reversal: (1) the court erred in permitting the plaintiffs’ value witnesses to express opinions as to the value of the farm prior to condemnation on the assumption that its highest and best use was industrial rather than agricultural because it was reasonably probable the land would be rezoned for industrial use, and in placing an enhanced value on the farm because of its proximity to the airport; (2) the court erred in admitting the opinion testimony of a witness who expressly predicated his conclusion as to the value of the farm after condemnation, in part, on burdens to which the land would have been subjected only if an avi-gation easement had been acquired; and (3) the court erred in refusing the defendants’ requested instructions 1 and 3.

I. The proper basis for an award of damages in this case is the difference in the fair market value of plaintiffs’ farm immediately before and immediately after condemnation. Crozier v. Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric Company, 165 N.W.2d 833, 835 (Iowa 1969). The extent to which the farm has been damaged or reduced in value by the obstruction light installation and clearance easement is the ultimate fact to be determined by the jury.

If they are to prove this diminished value, plaintiffs must initially establish the fair market value of the land before condemnation. Any factor that would impress a willing buyer in purchasing the farm, if otherwise competent, is both material and relevant for this purpose. Van Horn v. Iowa Public Service Company, 182 N.W.2d 365, 371 (Iowa 1970). Thus, plaintiffs were entitled to present evidence concerning the highest and best use of the property. Reeder v. Iowa State Highway Commission, 166 N.W.2d 839, 841 (Iowa 1969). As this court stated in Mohr v. Iowa State Highway Commission, 255 Iowa 711, 720, 124 N.W.2d 141, 147:

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Dolezal v. City of Cedar Rapids
209 N.W.2d 84 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
209 N.W.2d 84, 1973 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1061, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dolezal-v-city-of-cedar-rapids-iowa-1973.