In re the Board of Supervisors

145 Misc. 353
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedOctober 15, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 145 Misc. 353 (In re the Board of Supervisors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York County Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Board of Supervisors, 145 Misc. 353 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1932).

Opinion

Brown, J.

This is an application for the confirmation of the report of the commissioners of appraisal appointed in these proceedings to ascertain and determine the compensation to be paid Tony Hanna for land acquired from him. Mr. Hanna is the owner of approximately twenty-nine acres of land, located in the town of Otselic, Chenango county. This land adjoined the improved highway leading from the city of Norwich through Beaver Meadow to Otselic Center. The new route involving the construction work, and carried forward for the purpose of ehminating curves in the old road, passes through the Hanna property, and takes approximately two and fifty-one one-hundredths acres of land for construction purposes.

The commissioners have found, and so report, that the damage sustained by Mr. Hanna is $129.55, with interest from April 30, 1931, to the date of the report, August 8, 1932, making a total award of $139.50. The commissioners filed a previous report, and the matter was referred back to them for revision, and subsequently, on the coming in of a second report, the matter was sent back to them again for the taking of additional evidence in connection with the cost of fencing. The items or elements of damages entering into the final award of the commissioners are as follows: Value of land taken, $25.10; value of three apple trees, cut or destroyed, $15; inconveniences suffered by the owner by reason of the tract of land being divided by the new highway, considering the cost of approaches on either side, $40; cost of building fence, $49.45, thus arriving at the damages sustained by the owner, based upon the difference between the value of his property prior to the construction and after the completion of said highway, as $129.55.

The owner opposes confirmation of the report on the ground that the award is inadequate. The owner contends that the commissioners did not give a fair valuation of the land, that he [355]*355should have been allowed the expense of moving buildings, and that the amount allowed for fence construction is insufficient.

A portion of the tract of twenty-nine acres owned by Mr. Hanna is wet and low land, and apparently of little, if any, value for tillage purposes. There is upon the tract a house, badly dilapidated and in very poor condition, and at present unsuitable for dwelling house purposes.

One of the contentions of the owner is that the land in question is adaptable to the raising of muskrats, and that this feature was not given sufficient consideration by the commissioners. In determining the damages sustained by an owner when property is taken without his consent for public purposes, the marketable value may be considered in the light of its prospective use. (Matter of Gilroy, 85 Hun, 424; Thompson v. State of New York, 204 App. Div. 684.) Judge Van Kirk, writing for the court in the latter case, says: The claimant is entitled to recover the fair market value of the property for all available uses and purposes, which the State has taken; both the value of that which is taken, and consequential damages to her remaining property, the value of the property viewed not merely with reference to the uses to which it is at the time applied, but with reference to the uses to which it is plainly adapted.” (Boom Co. v. Patterson, 98 U. S. 403.)

Expert evidence was given in behalf of the owner, as well as the county, as to the adaptability of the premises for the raising of muskrats. This evidence, as usually happens in the case of expert witnesses, varied quite materially. The expert for the owner saw very promising possibilities of muskrat farming on the tract of land. The expert for the county minimized such possibilities. The commissioners were not bound to adopt the value placed upon the property by either expert. (N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Co. v. Newbold, 166 App. Div. 193; Matter of Bronx Parkway Commission, 192 id. 412; Ferguson v. Hubbell, 97 N. Y. 507, 514.) The owner complains that the practical use of the land for muskrat raising will be destroyed because of the noise from automobile and truck traffic along the highway, it being claimed that such noise will be a very disturbing factor in the propagation of muskrats. It is a significant fact, however, that this disturbing element was present in the use of the old highway as used prior to the building of the new roadway, as the premises in question, and especially the portion thereof to be used for the raising of muskrats, adjoined the old road.

I do not consider the element of cost for moving the old house, contended for by the owner, as applicable here as an element of damage. (Matter of City of New York [Briggs Ave.], 118 App. Div. 224, 226; Matter of City of New York [Baychester Ave.], 120 id. 392.)

[356]*356The commissioners had before them the evidence of witnesses as to the cost of fence building. They had a right to supplement such evidence by their own personal knowledge and experience.

The owner is entitled to receive full compensation for all damages that he has sustained by the appropriation of his land for public use. This includes the value of the premises actually taken, and also any damages resulting to the remaining part of his land. The actual and consequential damages should be adequate to fully recompense him for such value and loss. He should not, however, be entitled to receive compensation because of any fanciful or imaginary value that he himself may place upon his property. The values sought to be established should not be speculative and hypothetical, (N. Y. C. R. R. Co. v. Maloney, 234 N. Y. 208.) The land in question is situated in a somewhat remote locality. So far as the evidence shows it has not, since its ownership by Mr. Hanna, been productive of revenue in any attractive amount. In its present condition the house could not be occupied as a dwelling. I am not convinced that the report filed by the commissioners does not represent the fair and reasonable damage the owner has sustained.

The conclusion reached by the commissioners, after a consideration of the evidence, aided by their own judgment after a view of the premises, and supported by their experience, should not be disturbed unless it is clear that they have erred in that judgment or adopted some erroneous theory in determining the question of damages, or made their findings entirely in disregard of the evidence, and as a result, injustice follows. (N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Co. v. Newbold, supra; Matter of Manhattan R. Co. v. Comstock, 74 App. Div. 341, 342; Matter of City of New York, 198 N. Y. 84; Matter of Mayor, etc., 99 id. 569; Matter of Bensel [Southern Aqueduct, Secs. 15 & 17], 152 App. Div. 500.)

The attorney for Mr. Hanna takes the position that the owner in these proceedings is entitled to costs under section 16 of the Condemnation Law, This section provides that before service of a petition and notice in condemnation proceedings, the plaintiff “ may make a written offer to purchase the property at a specified price, which must within ten days thereafter be filed in the office of the clerk of the county where the property is situated; and which cannot be given in evidence before the commissioners, or considered by them. The owner may at the time of the presentation of the petition, or at any time previously, serve [notice in writing of the acceptance of plaintiff’s offer, * * *. 2.

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Related

Worden v. State
2 Misc. 2d 955 (New York State Court of Claims, 1956)

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