Herndon v. Housing Authority of City of Dallas

261 S.W.2d 221, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 1986
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 24, 1953
Docket14679
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 261 S.W.2d 221 (Herndon v. Housing Authority of City of Dallas) 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
Herndon v. Housing Authority of City of Dallas, 261 S.W.2d 221, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 1986 (Tex. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

DIXON, Chief Justice.

On motion for rehearing, the opinion handed down in this case on June 5, 1953 is withdrawn and the following is substituted therefor:

*222 This is a condemnation suit. Appellant was owner of land fronting- 143 feet on Singleton Boulevard in the City of Dallas. The whole of the tract of land was taken. The improvements on the land consisted of a brick store building in which appellant operated a grocery; a frame building in which appellant operated a cafe; and a frame residence in which appellant lived. A jury in a County Court at Law by its verdict fixed the market value of the property at $37,186.

Appellant’s first point is that the trial court erred in refusing to give the following instruction to the jury:

“You are further instructed that the value of the land condemned is not to be estimated simply with reference to the condition in which the owner has maintained it or the use to which it is put at the time in question, but with reference to any use to which it is reasonably adapted. The best or most valuable use to which the land in question is adapted should be considered.”

We do not doubt that the requested instruction was a correct statement of one of the several elements that go to make upmarket value. But we do not believe that it was error for the trial court to refuse to give the instruction. A correct definition of market value was given to the jury. Evidence was admitted showing the various uses to which the property could be put. It was proper to admit such evidence—in fact it was proper to admit evidence as to any or all of the various elements going to make up market value, including the best and most valuable use to which the property was adapted. Appellant’s attorney in his argument'to the jury might have, and perhaps did, call the jury’s attention to such evidence and its importance in determining market value. It was of course proper,for the jury to consider it in reaching their verdict. But why should it be necessary for the court to tell the jury that they should consider evidence which had been introduced and argued before them? The fact that the court permitted the evidence to be introduced and argued ought to make it obvious to the jury that it was proper for them to consider it.

This question has been considered by our Supreme Court, and here is what the Supreme Court said:

“ * * * in submitting the simple issue of the difference in the market value before and after, it seems to us proper that same should be submitted without instructions from the.court, other than.the formal definition of market value. It appears to us that in most if not all cases the whole matter of what may be considered by the jury and what may not be considered will be best determined by the trial court in the admission and exclusion of testimony rather than by, instructions to the jury. In that way the possibility of instructions upon the weight of the evidence, and also the possibility of the jury allowing damages upon the basis <?f special items, rather than determining the ultimate question of the difference in market value, will be avoided.” State v. Carpenter, 126 Tex. 604, 89 S.W. 2d 194, page 200. This Court has made similar holding in Kennedy v. City of Dallas, 201 S.W.2d 840. Appellant’s first point is overruled.

Appellant offered evidence of the gross revenue and the profits derived from the grocery business and the cafe business which he operated on the real estate in question. This evidence was offered, not as a separate item of damage, but as evidence of the market value of the real estate. The court refused to admit the testimony. Appellant in one of his points on appeal says the court erred in so ruling.

This very question is the subject of an annotation in 7 A.L.R. 163. Here is the rule as stated on page 164 in the annotation :

“With remarkable unanimity the American jurisdictions hold that evidence of profits derived from a business conducted on property is too speculative, uncertain, and remote to be considered as a basis for computing or ascertaining the market value *223 of the property in condemnation proceedings.”

The reasons generally given to support the rule are: (1) Ordinarily the amount of profit depends more upon the capital invested, genéral business conditions, and the trading skill and business capacity of the person conducting it than it does upon the location of the business. Gauley & E. R. Co. v. Conley, 84 W.Va. 489, 100 S.E. 290, 7 A.L.R. 157; and (2) it is only the real estate which is being taken, not the business. The owner may keep his business and continue to operate it at a different location. State v. Cerruti, 188 Or. 103, 214 P.2d 346, at page 349, 16 A.L.R.2d 1105. The authorities supporting the rule are numerous and we shall cite only a few: Armory v. Commonwealth, 321 Mass. 240, 72 N.E.2d 549, at page 560, 174 A.L.R. 370; Sowers v. Schaeffer, 155 Ohio St. 454, 99 N.E.2d 313; State v. Cerruti, 188 Or. 103, 214 P.2d 346, 16 A.L.R.2d 1105; Housing Authority, etc., v. Lustig, 139 Conn. 73, 90 A. 169; Orgel on Valuation under Eminent Domain, 529, sec. 161; 2 Nichols on Eminent Domain, 2nd Ed., 1173, sec. 446 ; 2 Lewis on Eminent Domain, 1273, sec. 727; 18 Am.Jur. 988, sec. 345.

The rule above referred to should not be confused with the rule, accepted by most courts, which permits evidence of rents and profits derived from the intrinsic nature of the real estate itself, as distinguished from profits derived from a business operated on the land. 65 A.L.R. 455 (Annotation); In re State Reservation, 102 N.Y. 734, 7 N.E. 916; City and County of Denver v. Quick, 108 Colo. 111, 113 P.2d 999, 134 A.L.R. 1120; 134 A.L.R. 1125 (Annotation). For example, when a stone quarry is located on condemned land, the owner may show his profits from the quarry business because it is part of the intrinsic nature of the land itself. Orleans County Quarry Co. v. State, 172 App.Div. 863, 173 App.Div. 990, 159 N.Y.S. 30; Seattle & M. R. Co. v. Roeder, 30 Wash. 244, 70 P. 498. This rule is applicable to agricultural lands, State v. Cerruti, 188 Or. 103, 214 P.2d 346; Korf v. Fleming, 239 Iowa 501, 32 N.W.2d 85, 3 A.L.R.2d 270; lands suitable for raising livestock and dairy products, City and County of Denver v. Quick, supra; toll roads and bridges, Lebanon & Nashville Turnpike Co. v. Creveling, 159 Tenn. 147, 17 S.W.2d 22, 65 A.L.R. 440; and other types of real estate as shown in the annotations above cited.

The difference in the two rules is discussed in -City and .County of Denver v. Quick, supra; in State v. Cerruti, supra;, and in the annotation ip 134 A.L.R. 1125. The distinction, is also recognized in the Introductory to the annotation in 65 A.L.R. 456: ,. '

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261 S.W.2d 221, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 1986, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herndon-v-housing-authority-of-city-of-dallas-texapp-1953.