Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Edward J. Gay Planting & Manufacturing Co.

200 So. 2d 29, 1967 La. App. LEXIS 5163
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 29, 1967
DocketNo. 7037
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 200 So. 2d 29 (Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Edward J. Gay Planting & Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Edward J. Gay Planting & Manufacturing Co., 200 So. 2d 29, 1967 La. App. LEXIS 5163 (La. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

SARTAIN, Judge.

Plaintiff seeks by expropriation a servitude of 170 feet in width across the lands of defendant and appeals from a judgment of the district court contending that said judgment is excessive. Defendant has answered the appeal urging that the judgment of the district court is inadequate and asks that the same be increased.

Defendant corporation is the owner of a very large tract of land containing some 4700 acres and comprising two very contiguous tracts of land known and referred to as the St. Louis and Centennial Plantations. The servitude herein sought will traverse the Centennial Plantation.

The Centennial Plantation comprising some 500 acres has a frontage of 700 feet on Bayou Plaquemine (formerly the Intra-coastal Canal). This tract of land fans back some 9600 feet and measures approximately 3450 feet across the rear where it joins the St. Louis Plantation. The said St. Louis Plantation contains some 4200 acres and has a frontage of 4200 feet on the west bank of the Mississippi River. The servitude as sought will commence at a point on the western boundary of the Centennial Plantation 4750 feet south of Bayou Plaquemine and then proceed on the diagonal a distance of 6700 feet to the rear of said Centennial Plantation, and then continue in a straight line on the St. Louis Plantation a distance of 2800 feet and then turn in an easterly direction and continue for an additional distance of 4100 feet. The entire servitude will take 33.76 acres of sugar cane lands and 21.61 acres of wooded lands for a total of 55.399 acres. The total distance is 14,338.51 lineal feet or a little over 21/4 miles.

Defendant’s property may be generally described as a “fat V” with its frontages on Bayou Plaquemine and the Mississippi River being equally distanced from the City of Plaquemine of approximately one mile.

The St. Louis Plantation portion of defendant’s property is traversed by Louisiana [31]*31Highway 1, the main line of Texas & Pacific Railroad, pipelines of Humble Oil & Refining and Texas Eastern Gas Transmission. Paralleling the two pipelines is an existing servitude of plaintiff. Along State Highway 1 is the Sugar Bowl Gas Line. These servitudes do not cross or bisect the lands of defendant referred to as the St. Louis Plantation.

On the Centennial Plantation property there is contained a plantation road which starts at a point on Bayou Plaquemine and proceeds on the perpendicular almost the length of the said plantation. Louisiana State Highway 75, on a servitude of approximately 80 feet, is hard surfaced and crosses said Centennial Plantation on a line generally parallel to Bayou Plaquemine but at a distance of 3000 feet from said Bayou.

Both plantations are traversed by several other plantation roads and drainage canals identified as measuring 40 to 45 feet in width. The two plantations comprise a very highly developed agricultural complex, with numerous highways, canals, bridges, and servitudes.

With the above general description of the properties in view we look to the issues presented herein which are twofold, namely: (1) the highest and best use of the property taken and the value therefore, and (2) the amount, if any, of severance damages owed to defendant as a result of the taking for and the installation of a high voltage electric transmission line.

HIGHEST AND BEST USE

The trial judge determined that the highest and best use of the property herein affected was for industrial purposes and with this conclusion we are in complete accord.

Plaintiff’s witness urged that the highest and best use of defendant’s property was in accord with its present use and that is agricultural. Said witness offered numerous transactions involving properties of an agricultural nature and submitted as com-parables these transactions in their determination as to value. Plaintiff’s principle witness was Mr. Max J. Derbes, Sr., who determined that defendant’s land under cultivation was valued at $300 per acre and the wooded acreage was valued at $200 per acre. He concluded that defendant was entitled to 50% of 33.76 acres of sugar cane land at $300 per acre or $10,128; 100% of 19.91 acres of wood lands at $200, or $3,982; and, 100% of 1.73 acres of wood lands at $200 per acre, or $346. His total value was $14,456. He assessed no severance damages. It was stipulated that plaintiff’s other witness, Mr. Chester A. Driggers, if called to testify would do so in substantial accordance with that of Mr. Derbes’ testimony.

Defendant’s principle witness was Mr. Kermit A. Williams, who opined that the highest and best use of defendant’s land was for industrial purposes and he used some 14 property transactions as comparables in support of his position. He relied primarily on 5 sales of large tracts of land, 3 on the east bank of the Mississippi Riveir (Baton Rouge side) and 2 on the west side (Plaque-mine) of the Mississippi River. These tracts of land ranged from $850 to $1650 per acre. He determined that the value of defendant’s property was $1300 per acre. He further determined that defendant was entitled to considerable severance damages which we will discuss hereinafter.

It was stipulated that if Mr. W. D. Mc-Cants, a competent appraiser, was called by defendant his testimony would be substantially the same as that of Mr. Williams. Mr. McCants’ comparables and the computations based thereon were placed in the record.

Two of the 5 comparables relied on by Mr. Williams are listed as items 2 and 3 of that opinion rendered this day by us in Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Ristroph, 200 So.2d 14, and will not be repeated here. Both of these referred to compara-bles involve property situated on the west side of the Mississippi River. The third [32]*32comparable used herein by Mr. Williams and also located on the west side of the Mississippi River is a sale from Riverside to First Mississippi Corporation, dated April 20, 1965 of 1,000 acres at a price of $1,000 per acre. The remaining 2 sales pertain to property located on the east side of the Mississippi River. They are Orange Grove to Enjay Company, dated June 10, 1966, covering 1,000 acres to $1,785 per acre; and, Carville to Brazeale, dated June 20, 1966, of 794 acres at $1,650 per acre. The testimony equating all these comparables in nature and characteristics to that of defendant’s lands is clear and convincing and leaves no doubt but that the highest and best use of the property herein sought is for industrial purposes. Further supporting this conclusion are the remaining 10 transactions of properties, 2 on the west side and 8 on the east side of the Mississippi River which involve tracts of land ranging in various sizes from 100 to 1400 acres at prices varying from $850 to $12,500 per acre encompassing an area along the Mississippi River from a point south of Addis, Louisiana (Copolymer) to a point south of Donaldsonville (Gulf Oil Corporation). See State Through Dept. of Highways v. Burden, La.App., 180 So.2d 784; State Dept. of Highways v. Carlina, La.App., 169 So.2d 265; Plaquemines Parish School Board v. Miller, 222 La. 584, 63 So.2d 6; Central La. Elec. Co. v. Harang, La.App., 131 So.2d 398; City of Shreveport v. Abe Meyer Corp., 219 La. 128, 52 So.2d 445; State v. Madden, 139 So.2d 21; Central La. Elec. Co. v. Mire, 140 So.2d 467, which proclaim the rule that the value of land expropriated must be the best and highest use to which the property may reasonably be put in the not too distant future and the owner thereof is entitled to compensation according to such reasonably potential use.

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

Related

Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Lasseigne
220 So. 2d 475 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1969)
Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Gaupp
220 So. 2d 482 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
200 So. 2d 29, 1967 La. App. LEXIS 5163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisiana-power-light-co-v-edward-j-gay-planting-manufacturing-co-lactapp-1967.