Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America v. Mitchell

440 S.W.2d 415, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2359
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 17, 1969
Docket7003
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 440 S.W.2d 415 (Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America v. Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America v. Mitchell, 440 S.W.2d 415, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2359 (Tex. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

STEPHENSON, Justice.

This is an action in eminent domain to acquire a permanent easement for the purpose of constructing a natural gas pipe line. Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America will be referred to as condemnor, and Hubbard K. Mitchell and wife, Mrs. Johnnie Harvill Mitchell, will be referred to as con-demnees. The Mrs. Johnnie Harvil Mitchell tract will be referred to as Tract No. One, and the Hubbard K. Mitchell tract will be referred to as Tract No. Two. It was stipulated that condemnor had the power and authority to condemn.

Condemnor’s first point of error is that the trial court erred in not granting its motion for mistrial made after the selection of the jury and before the introduction of evidence. It was stipulated that the County Judge presiding over this case also presided over the trial of a case styled Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America v. White, 439 S.W.2d 475 (Tex.Civ. App.) which was completed just before this present case went to trial, and that three of the jurors in the White case were selected to try this case. It was further stipulated that this County Judge was a first cousin to Mrs. White. (The White case came to this court on appeal and was reversed and remanded because the trial judge was disqualified.) It is argued that these three jurors were disqualified to sit on the jury in the present case because of their participation in the White case. It is further argued that those three jurors heard evidence in the White case which was inadmissible and inflammatory and therefore could not try this case fairly and impartially.

Condemnor cites Indemnity Insurance Company of North America v. McGee, 163 Tex. 412, 356 S.W.2d 666 (1962), which is authority for the proposition that the County Judge was disqualified in the White case. However, we find no suggestion in the McGee case that the trial judge would be disqualified in a second case tried at about the same time, with some of the same jurors, but in which he was not disqualified.

We do not find subsection 5 of Article 2134 Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. to be applicable to this situation. This subdivision reads as follows:

“Any person who has sat as a petit juror in the former trial of the same, or of another case, involving the same questions of fact.”

There is no showing that condemnor was forced to take the three jurors who served on both juries, and no objection was made to the trial court at the time of their selection. Palestine Contractors, Inc. v. Perkins, 386 S.W.2d 764, 774 (Tex.Sup., 1964). The evidence complained about which was heard in the White case by the three jurors was to the effect that newspaper articles had appeared in the Houston Post indicating it was dangerous to have a natural gas pipe line on the land. It having been found that the articles appeared in the newspaper after the date of the taking, no effort was made to introduce such evidence upon this trial. We do not find any abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in refusing to grant such mistrial, and in any event, such action was not reversible error under Rule 434.

Condemnor’s next series of points are that there is no evidence to support the findings of the jury as follows:

(1) The value of the land taken as a permanent 15-foot easement across Tract No. 1 before the taking was $300.00 (.2 acres).

*417 (2) And, after the taking was none.

(3) The value of the land taken as a permanent 15-foot easement across Tract No. 2 before the taking was $1,212.00 (1.01 acres).

(4) And, after the taking was none.

In passing upon these points of error, we consider only the evidence favorable to such findings.

A summary of the value testimony pertaining to these points of error, as well as to others following later, is inserted here so that it may be easily understood. The witnesses, Travis Carrington and Doyle Anderson, were called by condemnees, and Will S. Holmes and Howard Walker were called by condemnor. All four are expert witnesses, and no question is raised as to their qualifications.

This analysis of the testimony demonstrates that these points of error must be sustained. There is no evidence to support the findings by the jury that the value *418 of the 15-foot easemeiit across Tract No. 1 before the taking was $300.00, and the value of the 15-foot easement across Tract No. 2 before the taking was $1,212.00. These values are higher than any of the testimony by the witnesses. The highest value in the evidence was $750.00 per acre, according to Will S. Holmes, as to Tract No. 1, which would be $150.00 for the .2 acres taken. As to Tract No. 2, the highest value in evidence was $600.00 per acre, according to Howard Walker, which would he $630.00 for the 1.01 acres taken.

The law is well settled that the taking of an easement which does not carry with it the right to exclusive possession, is a taking of less than the entire fee, and, therefore, the entire value has not been destroyed. Texas Pipe Line Co. v. Hunt, 149 Tex. 33, 228 S.W.2d 151 (1950). West Texas Utilities Company v. Abernathy, 348 S.W.2d 794 (Amarillo Tex.Civ.App., 1961, no writ). Even though the witness Doyle Anderson testified the values of the 15-foot easement over both tracts would have no value after the taking, as a matter of law, this testimony does not support the jury findings of “none.”

Condemnor’s next series of points complain of the following findings by the jury:

(1) The value of the remainder of Tract No. 1, before the taking, was $12,-600.00 (8.4 acres).

(2) And, after the taking was $10,080.-00.

(3) The value of the remainder of Tract No. 2, before the taking, was $45,-396.00 (37.83 acres).

(4) And, after the taking was $37,830.-00.

It is urged in connection with each of these four special issues that there is no evidence to support such findings, that the evidence is insufficient to support such findings, that such findings are contrary to the weight and preponderance of the evidence, and that as a matter of law no damage could have been sustained to either remainder because of this condemnation proceeding. In passing upon the no evidence points, we consider only the evidence favorable to the findings of the jury, and in passing upon insufficiency of the evidence points and the points that the findings of the jury are contrary to the weight and preponderance of the evidence, we consider the entire record.

The main thrust of condemnor’s argument is: That both tracts of land involved in this suit were already subject to a 100-foot wide right-of-way and easement belonging to condemnor upon which two natural gas pipe lines are situated. Also, that these tracts of land were subject to an easement and right-of-way granted by condemnees to Texas Power & Light Company 100 feet in width.

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440 S.W.2d 415, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/natural-gas-pipeline-co-of-america-v-mitchell-texapp-1969.