Iowa Department of Transportation v. Read

262 N.W.2d 533, 1978 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1170
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 18, 1978
Docket59924
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 262 N.W.2d 533 (Iowa Department of Transportation v. Read) 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
Iowa Department of Transportation v. Read, 262 N.W.2d 533, 1978 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1170 (iowa 1978).

Opinion

REES, Justice.

This is an appeal by the Iowa Department of Transportation, the successor to the Iowa State Highway Commission, from an order and ruling of the trial court sustaining defendants’ motion for summary judgment. As the result of our conclusion that there was a factual dispute involving a material issue in the case, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

We set out the chronology of events leading to this appeal in order to provide a backdrop for this opinion.

The case began on June 7, 1973 when the Iowa State Highway Commission, now Iowa Department of Transportation, condemned property in Des Moines upon which the Gilbert Motel was situated, owned by the defendants Read but which was being sold on contract to defendants Kraus.

At the time of the condemnation proceedings, Reads were residents of the State of Kansas, and the Kraus defendants some time later moved to the State of Wisconsin. The condemnation award totaled $140,600, and on June 20, 1973 the Highway Commission placed in the hands of the Polk County sheriff warrants or checks to cover the total amount of the condemnation award and a separate check for the attorney fees. The defendants and others who were interested in the premises and affected by the condemnation were named as payees on the checks. A letter dated June 19, 1973, over the signature of Asher E. Schroeder, Special Assistant Attorney General, accompanied the checks. The letter was, in effect, one of transmittal, the second paragraph thereof reading as follows:

“Any awards not appealed from may be released after the expiration of the thirty (30) day appeal period. The con-demnees may call for these or direct you, in writing, to whom and where to send them.”

On June 22, the checks were picked up from the sheriff by an attorney for the defendants, and all of the checks were subsequently cashed.

On June 27, 1973 the Highway Commission filed notice of appeal of the award of $140,600 for the value of the property interests of the defendants. The defendants Kraus filed a special appearance asserting the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction of the appeal. The Reads also filed a special appearance in which they asserted the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and lacked personal jurisdiction over them. The special appearances wére sustained, and the ruling was then appealed to this court which reversed the order of the trial court sustaining the special appearances in State ex rel. Iowa State Highway Commission v. Read, 228 N.W.2d 199 (Iowa 1975).

The opinion in State ex rel. v. Read, above referred to, was filed on April 16, 1975, and thereafter, on April 24, the Iowa State Highway Commission filed its petition on appeal in the district court, asserting the compensation award was excessive, and further asserting the checks for the award had been deposited with the Polk County sheriff pursuant to § 472.25, The Code, but that the fund had been wrongfully disbursed and the checks had been wrongfully turned over to defendants’ attorney without the entry of any court order authorizing such delivery, and prior to the expiration of the thirty-day appeal period and in violation of the instructions to the sheriff set forth in Schroeder’s letter of June 19, 1973. The Highway Commission asserted in its appeal the property taken had a value of $100,000 and that there had been an overpayment to defendants of the sum of $40,600. The defendants Read filed their motion to strike the notice of appeal and petition, asserting the petition was at *535 variance with the prior stipulations entered into at the time of the prior appeal, and further at variance with the opinion of this court in State ex rel. v. Read, above referred to. The Highway Commission resisted the motion to strike, contending it was not timely filed, and that plaintiff’s petition contained new matter not treated in the stipulation of the parties or in the prior opinion of this court. In its order overruling defendants’ motion to strike, the court stated it was being overruled “for the reasons stated in plaintiff’s resistance.”

The defendants Read thereupon filed their answer, denying in general terms the allegations of the petition and asserting as an affirmative defense a waiver of the plaintiff’s right to appeal in that the funds had been deposited with the sheriff and were cashed after delivery by the sheriff to the defendants, or their representative on June 22, 1973 at which time no notice of appeal had been filed or served.

On February 10, 1976, the Reads filed their motion for summary judgment in which they alleged that on appeal and pursuant to facts mutually agreed upon and stipulated to by the Highway Commission and the defendants, that the Supreme Court of Iowa in its opinion referred to above had held § 472.25, The Code, unavailable to the plaintiff Highway Commission because the deposit of the condemnation award was not made in accord with the terms of that statute.

In their motion for summary judgment, the defendants Read further alleged that the opinion of this court in State ex rel. v. Read above referred to precluded the plaintiff Department of Transportation from recovering a personal judgment against the defendants upon remand of the condemnation appeal, that the only judgment which could be properly rendered against them was one for costs, and that the pleadings, record and the opinion of this court which involved the same issue as presented herein, and which the same evidence was presented as would be presented in this case if it were tried, indicated there was no genuine issue as to any material fact.

The plaintiff Department of Transportation resisted the motion for summary judgment, asserting the opinion of this court did not address the merits of the affirmative defense and in fact there was no matter before the court in the prior appeal to indicate whether the plaintiff intended to proceed under § 472.25, The Code, or whether the plaintiff Commission had by the letter of its attorney instructed the sheriff to hold the warrants for the award until the expiration of the thirty-day appeal period.

Hearing was held in connection with the submission of the motion for summary judgment, and evidence was taken, following which the trial court sustained defendants’ motion on the basis that “the con-demnor having paid the award as it did, condemnor waived the right of appeal.” From such ruling the Iowa Department of Transportation has taken this appeal, stating the following issues for review.

(1) That a genuine issue of fact was raised as to whether any instructions were given to the sheriff by the Highway Commission not to release the funds until the expiration of the time for appeal, and that trial court erred in sustaining defendants’ motion for summary judgment apparently on the grounds the Highway Commission (now the Department of Transportation), as a matter of law waived its right of appeal of the condemnation award by “having paid the award as it did.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State ex rel. Spung v. Evnen
317 Neb. 800 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 2024)
City of Des Moines v. Geller Glass & Upholstery, Inc.
319 N.W.2d 239 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1982)
Webster City Production Credit Ass'n v. G. O. Implement, Inc.
310 N.W.2d 541 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1981)
Telegraph Herald, Inc. v. City of Dubuque
297 N.W.2d 529 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1980)
Casey v. Lupkes
286 N.W.2d 204 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1979)
Anita Valley, Inc. v. Bingley
279 N.W.2d 37 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1979)
Citizens for Washington Square v. City of Davenport
277 N.W.2d 882 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1979)
Frohwein v. Haesemeyer
264 N.W.2d 792 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
262 N.W.2d 533, 1978 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iowa-department-of-transportation-v-read-iowa-1978.