FLOOD CONTROL DIST. OF MARICOPA CTY. v. Hing

709 P.2d 1351, 147 Ariz. 292, 1985 Ariz. App. LEXIS 710
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJuly 9, 1985
Docket1 CA-CIV 7171
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 709 P.2d 1351 (FLOOD CONTROL DIST. OF MARICOPA CTY. v. Hing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
FLOOD CONTROL DIST. OF MARICOPA CTY. v. Hing, 709 P.2d 1351, 147 Ariz. 292, 1985 Ariz. App. LEXIS 710 (Ark. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

CONTRERAS, Judge.

This appeal arises in an action to condemn property in order to construct an interceptor channel as part of the Lower Indian Bend Wash Flood Control Project. The defendants challenge the valuation date, the condemnation award, and the trial court’s refusal to award attorney’s fees and expert witness fees. We are also presented with the constitutionality of A.R.S. § 12-1127(B) (1982) which mandates that payment to a condemnee of funds paid into court by the condemnor based upon a judgment constitutes an abandonment of all defenses except the condemnee’s claim for greater compensation. We hold that the statute is constitutional. We also affirm the intermediate decisions and orders of the trial court along with the judgment.

Defendants owned a 55.3-acre parcel of real property located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Indian Bend and Hayden roads in Scottsdale, Arizona. On June 5, 1973, the City of Scottsdale tentatively agreed to rezone defendants’ property to R-4R, which permits resorts and commercial uses appurtenant thereto such as restaurants, cocktail lounges, retail shops, town houses, and condominiums with a maximum of 7A units per acre. The rezoning was subject to two conditions, first, that defendants dedicate the southerly 80 feet of the property for recreational uses, and second, that defendants grant a permanent drainage easement not more than 400 feet wide running the length of the property and north of the portion dedicated for recreational uses. The defendants never agreed to the two conditions, and the zoning of the property remained at Rl-43, which permits development for residential uses at a density of one house per acre. For purposes of valuation, however, the property was treated as if it had the R-4R zoning.

In 1974 and 1978, the board of directors of the Flood Control District of Maricopa County (District) passed resolutions establishing the public use and necessity of the flood control project. On January 26, 1979, the District brought an action to condemn a 20.89-acre strip of land along the southern border of defendants’ property. On February 1, 1979, the District filed an application for an order of immediate possession. Both parties presented evidence related to the public use and necessity of the condemnation and the probable damages that would be sustained from the taking. In a January 24, 1980, ruling, the trial court authorized the District to take immediate possession of the 20.89 acres. The court also ruled that the land was necessary for public use; set the valuation date as January 26, 1979, the date of the summons and complaint; and set a figure of $1,153,880 as the probable damages to defendants. By stipulation and pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-1116(H) (Supp.1979), defendants were permitted to withdraw the probable damage funds on February 15, 1980..

Prior to trial on the issue of the amount of just compensation, defendants filed motions for a full trial on the issue of necessity and to set the date of valuation as the date of trial or in the alternative, as of the date of immediate possession. The motions were denied. After hearing 10 days of testimony and argument, the trial court issued its findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment awarding defendants *295 $1,880,100 as just compensation for the value of the property taken. The December 8, 1982, judgment also stated that the valuation date to be used was January 26, 1979, the date of the summons and complaint, and provided that interest was payable from January 24, 1980, on the difference between the just compensation award and the immediate possession award. Additionally, the trial court allowed defendants their taxable costs and rejected their request for attorney’s fees and for expert witness costs.

On December 15, 1982, defendants requested the trial court to order release of the funds awarded as just compensation. In their application, defendants stated that their request was made because the District insisted that once it had deposited the funds with the court it no longer was obligated to pay interest. The defendants stated that they wanted to prevent further loss of interest on the additional award in light of plaintiff’s position regarding its liability for further interest. Additionally, defendants asserted that conditioning the withdrawal of funds on the abandonment of all defenses except as to the just compensation award was unlawful. The trial court noted the defendants’ objections and ordered the funds released. Defendants also filed a motion to amend the judgment or for a new trial. The motion was denied, and a notice of appeal was filed on March 7, 1983, setting forth six matters which were being appealed: the order for immediate possession, the judgment on just compensation, the order regarding withdrawal of funds deposited by plaintiff, the order denying the motion to amend the judgment or for a new trial, the order regarding statement of costs, and the final condemnation order.

On July 1, 1983, the District filed a motion for partial dismissal of appeal asserting that because of the operation of A.R.S. § 12-1127(B), there was a lack of jurisdiction of any issue other than that related to the claim for greater'compensation. Additionally, the District asserted that estoppel and waiver applied to bar defendants’ appeal and that defendants had failed to properly preserve the issues other than what constituted just compensation. The District also asserted that the defendants never presented the issue of the constitutionality of A.R.S. § 12-1127(B) to the trial court. In an order filed August 1, 1983, this court denied the District’s motion, ruling that a determination as to which issues might properly be raised would be made when the appeal was before this court on the merits. We find that the constitutionality of A.R.S. § 12-1127(B) was fairly presented to the trial court and will be considered.

WAIVER OF DEFENSES

The issue of whether defendants waived all defenses other than their claim for just compensation affects several of the 16 issues presented by appellants in their opening brief. These are the assertion that defendants are entitled to a full trial on the issue of necessity and the assertion that the taking of 20.89 acres was not necessary for a public use. Defendants assert that A.R.S. § 12-1127(B) is a violation of equal protection and due process rights under the United States and Arizona Constitutions. Additionally, defendants allege that the statute violates the constitutional requirements for just compensation.

A.R.S. § 12-1127 was adopted from California. Viliborghi v. Prescott School District No. 1, 55 Ariz. 230, 100 P.2d 178 (1940) and historical note to A.R.S.

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Bluebook (online)
709 P.2d 1351, 147 Ariz. 292, 1985 Ariz. App. LEXIS 710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flood-control-dist-of-maricopa-cty-v-hing-arizctapp-1985.