Kelly v. Oklahoma Turnpike Authority

1954 OK 112, 269 P.2d 359, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 495
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 13, 1954
Docket35772
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 1954 OK 112 (Kelly v. Oklahoma Turnpike Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kelly v. Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, 1954 OK 112, 269 P.2d 359, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 495 (Okla. 1954).

Opinion

CORN, Justice.

Plaintiff brought three separate condemnation suits seeking to condemn two 17-acre tracts of defendants’ property, and to acquire a temporary easement to an additional 1.84 acres. The land sought to be condemned was approximately in the middle of a ranch operated by defendant Kelly Brothers, and consisted both of leased land and land owned in fee.

The trial court appointed' condemnation commissioners who returned their report awarding defendants damages for condemnation of the three tracts in the total sum of $53,870. December 19, 1951, plaintiff deposited the exact amount of the awards with the court clerk and thereafter took possession of the property. On December 22, 1951, plaintiff filed demand for jury trial and defendants then secured disbursement orders for the condemnation ■ money, and upon such orders the court clerk paid over the condemnation money, less 1% poundage fee. Subsequently defendants filed motion to retax -the costs and, following a hearing on February 18, 1952, the plaintiff, on March 3, 1952, deposited a sum ($498.53) equal to the poundage fee on the amount of damages ($49,853) awarded in one case.

March 25, 1952, defendants filed motions to strike plaintiff’s demand for jury trial, and to strike the cases from trial assignment, upon the ground plaintiff had waived any right to jury trial by failing to deposit the poundage fee within the time allowed for making demand for jury trial. The motion to strike .plaintiff’s demand .was . overruled on April 3, 1952, and the same day plaintiff 'deposited the amount of poundage fee in the other two cases.

The case was heard April 24, 1952, at which time defendants renewed their motion to strike the demand for jury trial, and also sought judgment on the pleadings. The motions were overruled and by stipulation the' three cases weré tried as one case, and are so presented on appeal. The jury returned a verdict fixing; the amount of defendants’ damages at $5,000. The trial court then entered judgment for plaintiffs for $48,870, the amount of the difference between, the commissioners’ award and the damages allowed by tlfe jury.

May 26, 1952, a hearing was had on the Journal Entry drafted by plaintiff. Defendants objected to that portion of, the-judgment charging them with the 1% poundage fee as costs, and also the charging of interest against .defendants from the time the condemnation money,was drawn down until the date of judgment. Defendants were overruled on both grounds and judgment was rendered for plaintiff in sum of $48,870 with interest from December 31, 1951, until paid, together with all costs .accrued or. accruing subsequent to the -date of first appraisal.

' The various assignments of error relied upon for reversal of this judgment ■ are presented under five main propositions. These propositions provide the basis for a dissertative treatment of various matters concerning the condemnation proceedings considered herein but do not, in our opinion, present questions which !are necessary to a proper determination ■ of this appeal. For such reason we deem- it unnecessary to deal with certain of these propositions at any greater length than hereafter noted.

The first two propositions are founded upon plaintiff’s failure to pay into the registry of the court, following the commissioners’ assessment of compensation for the taking of the particular property, an amount equal' to such award plus the poundage fee. The argument is that plaintiff’s failure to discharge such obligation before entering upon the property constituted a violation of defendants’ constitutional right and: (a) made the'commissioners’ award a final judgment; (b) invalidated plaintiff’s right to prosecute 'any *362 further proceeding's relative to such condemnation, so that it was error for the trial court to overrule defendants’ motion to strike plaintiff’s demand for jury trial following' the commissioners’ assessment of compensation due for taking of the property.

The circumstances reflected by this record reveal that, at best, such argument presents only academic legal questions. It is true that the Constitution, Art. 2, Sec. 24, requires the condemnor to pay the amount of compensation for the taking, as fixed by the commissioners, either to the land owner, or into court. Plaintiff did deposit the amount of the commissioners’ award; and the money was disbursed to defendants upon their application. No question was raised relative to- the' alleged insufficiency of the amount deposited until after the awards had been disbursed and plaintiff had entered upon the property. Under such circumstances the condemnation had become an accomplished fact. Admitting that plaintiff failed to proceed properly, and that such failure was vio-lative of defendants’ rights under practices which are not subject to approval, the fact remains that the matter had progressed sufficiently so that no- substantial question remained for consideration other than to finally determine the amount due defendants as compensation for the property con-" demned.

Neither are we impressed by the. argument that an asserted violation of defendants’ constitutional. rights destroyed plaintiff’s right to prosecute .further proceedings for determination of the sufficiency of the condemnation award. We are cited to no' rule of law based upon the premise that a course of conduct which might even be considered reprehensible, serves to preclude assertion of a right to have a claim adjudicated to finality. That this is true must be recognized in view of the frequently applied rule of reverse condemnation. This, in substance, was the. principle applied in Blackwell, E. & S. W. Ry. Co. v. Bebout, 19 Okl. 63, 91 P. 877-880, wherein the following language was used:

“If the Blackwell, Enid & Southwestern Railway Company went upon the land of Bebout and attempted to appropriate any portion of it for railway purposes, he had the right to require them to stop work until the damages could be ascertained and deposited with the clerk of the court. If he failed to require this to be done, and stood by until the work was completed, he gained no greater rights than he had before, and the railway company got no better rights by his silence. The failure to have the damages. determined in advance did not change the rights or relations of the parties. The provisions of the statute were still adequate for the determination of the rights of both parties and for the. enforcement of -such rights when determined.”

Defendants’ fifth contention presents matters of such -substance as to require attention at this point. The first subdivision of this proposition squarely presents for consideration the question whether the statutory 1% poundage fee charged by the court clerk, 12 O.S.1951 § 921, 28 O.S. 1951 Sec. 31 tipon defendants’ withdrawal of .the commissioners’ award -constitutes a part of the costs of the first assessment-required to be paid by the condemnor under 66 O.S.1951 § 56.

Our closest approach to consideration of this question may be observed in Grand River Dam Authority v. Grand-Hydro, 188 Okl. 506, 111 P.2d 488. In that case Grand River Dam Authority sought mandamus to compel a court clerk to accept the amount of commissioners’ awards in certain condemnation proceedings without payment of an additional amount as costs, wherein was included the clerk’s poundage fee.

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Bluebook (online)
1954 OK 112, 269 P.2d 359, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kelly-v-oklahoma-turnpike-authority-okla-1954.