Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. United Lands Co.

218 So. 2d 905, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4702
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 12, 1968
DocketNo. 7446
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 218 So. 2d 905 (Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. United Lands 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. United Lands Co., 218 So. 2d 905, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4702 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

LOTTINGER, Judge.

This is a suit for expropriation filed by Louisiana Power and Light Company against United Lands Company, Inc. Since the inception of this suit, same has been consolidated with two other suits, namely, Louisiana Power and Light Company v. Mercedes B. de Latour, wife of and A. P. Schiro et al., and Louisiana Power and Light Company v. Sorrento Dome Land Corporation et al., 218 So.2d 913, 912. All three suits will be considered in this opinion, however, separate judgments will be rendered in each suit.

In these consolidated matters, Louisiana Power and Light Company seeks to expropriate a servitude two hundred feet in width across lands of defendants for the erection, maintenance and operation of a 500,000 volt, or a 500 K.V. electric transmission line which will extend from Gulf States Utility Facilities in the Parish of Ascension to the petitioner’s Little Gypsy Steam Electric Generator Station in the Parish of St. Charles, Louisiana. The lands which are sought to be traversed are situated on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the Parish of Ascension and are comprised of two large tracts of about equal size, one owned by United Lands Company, and the other by Sorrento Dome Land Corporation, James H. Boyce and Claude G. Boyce, and two small tracts owned by Mrs. Mercedes B. de Latour and others. The lands comprise one contiguous tract of some 18,000 acres which are traversed by the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Airline Highway, railroad lines, pipe lines, electric lines, rural roads, canals, and the proposed Interstate 10 Highway.

The transmission line is to be equipped with “Y” aluminum towers. The single leg of these structures will rest on a grillage path some 11' x IF square by 8" in depth and will be held in place by eight guy wires attached to four anchors. The height of the cross arm of the structure will vary from 75 to 80 feet, and that of the tower proper will vary from 92 to 142 feet. The towers are to be spaced approximately 750 feet to 960 feet apart. From these towers will be suspended three phases of three conductors each, or nine cables. These cables weigh approximately one pound per foot and their minimum above ground clearance at their maximum point of sway is to be thirty-five feet.

The defendants, Mrs. Mercedes B. de La-tour and others filed an answer to petitioners’ petition and defendants, Sorrento Dome Land Corporation, et als, filed an answer and amended answer to the petition filed against them. Defendant, United Lands Company, Inc. filed dilatory exceptions of prematurity and vagueness, peremptory exceptions of no cause and no right of action as well as special defenses. Due to responses of petitioners to interrogatories filed by defendants, the exception of vagueness has been waived. As the special defenses and the exception required the presentation of evidence in support thereof, defendants’ counsel stated at the outset of the trial that these exceptions and special defenses were specifically reserved and that the record would show that the case was being tried on these exceptions as well as on the merits.

After trial on the merits, the Lower Court rendered judgment in favor of petitioners and against defendants granting the expropriation as prayed for and awarded damages for the taking in favor of United Lands Company, Inc., in the sum of $8,-594.25, in favor of Mrs. Mercedes B. de Latour and others, in the sum of $149.00, and in favor of Sorrento Dome Land Corporation, et al, in the sum of $25,909.82. No severance or consequential damages were awarded below. From this judgment, all defendants have taken this devolutive appeal.

In the Court below, the defendants objected to the failure of the petitioners to consider the change of location of the servitudes for a short distance so as to avoid [907]*907the passage over what is known as the Sor-rento Salt Dome, and, in the alternative, objected to the quantum offered the defendants by the petitioners. In addition to these two factors, on appeal, the defendants also alleged error on the part of the Lower Court in its failure to allow defendants consequential or severance damages in addition to damages for the taking.

Subsequent to the filing of this appeal, however, the electric transmission line was constructed by the petitioner across the right of way site, and, by way of reply brief, the defendants now simply ask for an increase in the amounts awarded by the District Court for the taking, as well as for severance or consequential damages to the remaining lands of defendants. All the area in which these lands áre located is presently experiencing substantial industrial development and growth. The record shows numerous tracts in the area on the east and west sides of the Mississippi River that have been purchased and are being used for industrial purposes.

The unique and real significant factor in these cases is the existence of what is known as the Sorrento Salt Dome lying beneath the subject property owned by the defendants. The servitudes cross this salt dome near its center or shallowest point. The uncontradicted testimony shows the need on the east side of the Mississippi River in the area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge for the underground storage of hydrocarbons and salt brine production occasioned by industrial development and the growth of petro-chemical industry in the area. It was shown that in this same area there are but three salt domes, namely, Sorrento, Darrow and Hester. It appears that by reason of its size, location and formation, the Sorrento dome is preferable to the other two.

Mr. Frank L. Keller, professor of Economics at Tulane University, testified on behalf of defendants as to the growing demands for underground storage of hydrocarbons and its economic advantages, i. e., the cost per barrel averaging forty cents to $2.00 as opposed to surface storage cost of $15.00 to $20.00 per barrel. This underground storage is effected by drilling into the salt dome structure and then leeching out cavities or “jugs” of 1,000,000 barrel or more capacity each.

The testimony shows that in the Sorrento dome area above the 8,000 foot contour there are some 3,470 acres usable for brine production or underground storage. There is also testimony to the effect that within the proposed 200 foot right of way and above the 8,000 foot contour there are thirty acres of usable salt dome area belonging to defendant Sorrento Dome Lands and twenty-five acres belonging to United Lands. At present the dome is actually being used for both salt recovery and underground storage. Leases are in existence in favor of Shell Oil Company, Humble Oil and Refining Company and Texaco, Inc., for underground storage. Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation has a brine lease affecting certain acreage on the dome.

The Lower Court correctly found that the highest and best use for the lands of the defendants situated on the Sorrento Salt Dome within the 8,000 foot contour is the sub-surface storage of hydrocarbons and the production of salt brine. They claim that, in connection with this usage, the surface use of the land is essential and indispensable, thus rendering the erection and maintenance by the petitioner of its high voltage transmission line a completely incompatible operation. Petitioners, of course, maintain that their above ground construction and operation will not interfere with the sub-surface storage operations of the defendants as the jugs could be directionally drilled.

Mr.

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Related

Florida Gas Transmission Co. v. Dupont
264 So. 2d 708 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1972)
Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. United Lands Co.
228 So. 2d 140 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1969)
Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Sorrento Dome Land Corp.
218 So. 2d 912 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1968)
Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. de Latour
218 So. 2d 913 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
218 So. 2d 905, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisiana-power-light-co-v-united-lands-co-lactapp-1968.