Morris Family LLC v. South Dakota Department of Transportation

2014 SD 97, 857 N.W.2d 865, 2014 S.D. 97, 2014 S.D. LEXIS 151, 2014 WL 7331917
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 23, 2014
Docket26831
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2014 SD 97 (Morris Family LLC v. South Dakota Department of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morris Family LLC v. South Dakota Department of Transportation, 2014 SD 97, 857 N.W.2d 865, 2014 S.D. 97, 2014 S.D. LEXIS 151, 2014 WL 7331917 (S.D. 2014).

Opinion

*867 GILBERTSON, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1.] The Morris Family LLC (Morris Family) initiated an action against the State of South Dakota and the City of Watertown, claiming unconstitutional taking or damaging of property for loss of access from their property to Highway 212, and violation of due process stemming from the State’s and City’s actions denying access. The State moved for summary judgment, asserting that the State was granted complete control of access for the land in question in a 1970 judgment. The circuit court granted summary judgment and dismissed the complaint. Morris Family appeals, claiming that it was not given proper notice that summary judgment on the due process issue was before the court and that the court erred in granting summary judgment. Specifically, Morris Family asserts there were genuine questions of material fact regarding whether the State was granted control of access as part of the 1970 condemnation action. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[¶ 2.] Morris Family owns certain property abutting U.S. Highway 212 in Watertown, South Dakota. In 1969, a state highway project sought to turn Highway 212 into a four-lane, controlled-access highway to serve as the primary entrance to the City of Watertown from Interstate 29. To carry out the plan of establishing this controlled-access highway, the State commenced a condemnation action against the plaintiffs predecessor in title. Through this condemnation action, the State sought to acquire the necessary “right of way and rights of access” in accordance with the project plans and specifications.

[¶ 3.] Prior to the condemnation action, the driveway to the residence and farm buildings on Morris Family’s property provided direct access to Highway 212. As part of the condemnation action, the driveway was moved to connect with a break in the control of access along the western edge of the property. This break in control of access was 24-feet wide and shared with the neighboring Endres property. The record reflects that the defendants to the condemnation action admitted that the State had the right to take the property under its right of eminent domain but contested the compensation to be paid, alleging “[t]hat the Plaintiff has failed to offer just compensation for that property taken from these defendants and for deprivation of access to and from said property and the adjacent highway.”

[¶ 4.] The parties to the 1970 condemnation action eventually signed a Stipulation for Settlement and for Entry of Judgment compromising and settling the condemnation action for $6,000 and further agreeing “that of the $6,000, $1,440 is for the land and $4,560 is for severance damages.” A judgment in the condemnation action in March 1970 granted the State “the right to control access to the right of way in accordance with Chapter 31-8 of the 1967 South Dakota Compiled Laws and amendments thereto” on the Morris Family land at issue in this case. The judgment delineated $6,000 in damages, stating that “$1,440 is designated as payment for the land taken and $4,560 is designated as damages to the remainder.” 1 The judgment was never appealed.

*868 [¶ 5.] In December 2010, Morris Family filed a three-count complaint against the City of Watertown and the State. Count One alleged “Error in Judgment,” asserting that Morris Family retained “full access rights to State Highway 212” because the condemnation action never eliminated those rights. Count One also alleged that the words “in accordance with Chapter BIS’’ in the judgment were an error that should be amended to read “in accordance with Chapter 31-19.” Count Two of the Complaint was for “Constitutional Taking or Damage.” It alleged that Morris Family was not compensated for the loss of total access to State Highway 212, and that “Plaintiffs [sic] highest and best use of their property has been destroyed by the failure of either the City or the State to grant it access to State Highway 212 upon a change in use of the property.” Count Three alleged “Failure to Provide Due Process.” It alleged that the State had taken all access without granting a hearing or any other method to contest the exercise of the State’s alleged police power in denying all commercial access to the highway. It also alleged that the failure to have a procedure “whereby a landowner can petition to alter the declarations of the engineers and the Department of Transportation is a violation of the rights of due process under both the State and Federal constitution.”

[¶ 6.] In July 2011, Morris Family filed a “Motion to Correct Judgment under SDCL 15-6-16(a),” alleging that the State intended only to gain an ordinary right-of-way in the 1970 condemnation action and never bargained for complete control of access under SDCL chapter 31-8. The circuit court denied the motion 2 and, in a September 2011 letter decision, stated:

There is little support to the Plaintiffs theory that a clerical error was made by Judge H.O. Lund when entering the Judgment on March 26, 1970, vesting the State of South Dakota with “... all right to control access to the right-of-way ...” of the Morris land described therein. Documents from the broader project file unequivocally evidence the State’s intent to acquire the right to control access along Highway 212 as it reached eastward from Watertown to connect with the interstate.

[¶ 7.] In May 2012, Morris Family filed an Application for Highway Access Permit with the Watertown Area Engineer. The application sought a 40-foot wide access in a different location than the existing break in control of access. The stated purpose of the request was to “[Relocate existing access and change in use” to commercial access. In response, the Engineer sent Morris Family an Application for Relinquishment of Access Control. He explained, “This is an area where the state has control of access. Because of this we need you to fill out an application for relinquishment of access control form. The access application is put on ‘hold’ until the relinquishment is addressed.” In exchange for the Endres giving up their right to use the Endres/Morris Family shared access, the Endres property was subsequently granted a relinquishment of access control at another location along Highway 212.

[¶ 8.] In December 2012, an attorney representing Morris Family filed an Application for Relinquishment of Access Control. This application requested a new 60-foot wide break in access, located 238 feet from the west property line. Alternatively, it requested expanding the current 12-foot break at the west edge of the Morris Family property to create a 60-foot wide break in access control. The State denied the request by mail on February 26, 2013.

*869 [¶ 9.] In August 2013, the State filed a motion for summary judgment “on the grounds there are no genuine issues of material fact and the State is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” The State asserted that its basis for summary judgment was that the State owned the right to control of access under SDCL chapter 31-8 across the property, except for the designated break at the west property line, where Morris Family had been using the 24-foot shared access.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 SD 97, 857 N.W.2d 865, 2014 S.D. 97, 2014 S.D. LEXIS 151, 2014 WL 7331917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morris-family-llc-v-south-dakota-department-of-transportation-sd-2014.