Oien Family Invs., LLC v. Piedmont Mun. Power Agency

817 S.E.2d 647, 424 S.C. 168
CourtCourt of Appeals of South Carolina
DecidedJuly 18, 2018
DocketAppellate Case No. 2016-001037; Opinion No. 5576
StatusPublished

This text of 817 S.E.2d 647 (Oien Family Invs., LLC v. Piedmont Mun. Power Agency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oien Family Invs., LLC v. Piedmont Mun. Power Agency, 817 S.E.2d 647, 424 S.C. 168 (S.C. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

MCDONALD, J.:

**170In 2015, Oien Family Investments, LLC (OFI) brought this action against Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (Piedmont), **171seeking to permanently enjoin Piedmont from condemning a portion of its 116-acre property in Newberry County (the Property). In the alternative, OFI sought an order directing Piedmont to reroute its proposed power transmission line along the southern border of the Property. The circuit court denied OFI's request for injunctive relief, granted Piedmont's motion for a directed verdict, and denied the parties' respective requests for attorney's fees and costs. OFI argues the circuit court erred by (1) failing to properly apply *649Southern Development v. South Carolina Public Service Authority1 and (2) failing to find Piedmont violated the applicable industry standard in selecting the route for its high voltage transmission line. Finally, OFI challenges certain circuit court findings as erroneous or internally inconsistent. We affirm in part and vacate in part.

Facts and Procedural History

In December 2005, Lynn and June Oien (collectively, the Oiens) purchased the Property for $400,000.2 The Oiens made substantial improvements to the Property, such as grading a road, running underground power, and constructing a 7,000 square foot shop to house track hoes, tractors, mowers, and other equipment. The Oiens invested $160,000 in the shop, which included a well and septic tank. They also prepared to build their retirement home by clearing timber and grading the land. By the time of the nonjury trial, the Oiens had invested approximately $370,000 in the Property.

Piedmont is a joint agency formed by ten upstate municipal electric utilities to purchase wholesale electrical power from Duke Energy. The City of Newberry (City) owns and operates its own electrical distribution system (EDS); it receives service from three Duke Energy "power deliveries." The City's EDS demand peaked in 2012. At this time, Kraft Foods, Piedmont's largest customer and one of the City's largest employers, informed the City that it intended to enlarge its plant and would therefore require additional power. Thereafter, the City **172sought to install a new substation to increase electrical output and reliability for its customers, including Kraft Foods.3 The City subsequently partnered with Piedmont to secure the right-of-way for the transmission line needed to energize the new substation.

On February 28, 2013, Piedmont's consulting engineer, Alan Cobb, issued a report (the Report) to Piedmont's transmission committee recommending a route for the transmission line. The proposed route was to run over two miles through the property of fifteen landowners-including the Oiens-and include poles approximately ninety feet tall. The Report, based in part on Google Earth and Newberry County geographic information system (GIS) maps, considered several factors including: environmental impact, land use, impact to individual landowners, costs for the route, and visual impact. The transmission committee approved the project, including the proposed route, on March 5, 2013. The Piedmont board of directors subsequently voted to build the new transmission line from a nearby Duke Energy line to a new substation near Kraft Foods.

The Oiens first learned about the project in a February 2013 email from a neighbor, Misty West. West informed the Oiens of the City's plan to construct "a new 100 KW transmission line from the service line near your house to the Kraft plant." West attached a drawing of a proposed route for the transmission line along the southern boundary of the Property and noted she told the City "there is no way [the Oiens] would willingly give [you] an easement to cut [their] property in half." She also told the Oiens someone from the City would contact them regarding the project. After this point, the parties disagree as to the pertinent facts.

Todd Guy, an electric foreman for the City, testified that he first contacted the Oiens regarding the right-of-way "somewhere around" February 2013. Guy presented the Oiens with the selected route for the transmission line, which went through the middle of the Property (the Middle Route). At the Oiens' request, Guy then presented alternative routes along the Property's southern boundary (the Southern Route) and northern boundary (the Northern Route). He testified the **173Oiens rejected both potential alternative routes and asked him to again explore the *650Middle Route.4 Guy's last contact with the Oiens was through their forester and appraiser, Paul Major, whom the Oiens had engaged to communicate with the City and Piedmont.

By contrast, Mr. Oien claimed neither the City nor Piedmont reached out to the Oiens. He testified his first contact with the City was in June 2013, when he found a Duke Energy employee on his Property and called Todd Guy. Mr. Oien claimed he never saw any proposed routes, other than the route reflected in West's email attachment, until he met with City representatives in September 2013. Further, Mr. Oien maintains he never rejected the Southern Route. In late September, City representatives met with the Oiens and Major, and the Oiens expressed their preference for the Southern Route.

On November 26, 2013, representatives from Piedmont and the City met with the Oiens and Major. The Oiens brought their house plans to show Piedmont why the Middle Route was problematic and believed they made clear their desire for the Southern Route. Still, Piedmont indicated it planned to use the Middle Route. Major, on behalf of the Oiens, requested a timber count and values as well as a pole count with proposed pole locations. According to Regier, "the interactions with the Oiens were pretty pleasant. The interactions with Mr. Major were pretty adversarial." Piedmont explained it would need to survey the Middle Route in order to provide the requested information, and Mr. Oien eventually consented to the survey.

Mike Frazier, Piedmont's Director of Engineering and Power Supply, testified the Oiens agreed to the Middle Route following the November 26, 2013 meeting. Although the Oiens dispute any contention that an agreement was reached at this meeting (or ever), Mr. Oien left the following voicemail for Frazier:

Michael, it's Lynn Oien. We met with you the other day in regard to the power line. We walked it. We made the decision we want to stay with what you have right now that **174you've originally drawn up as opposed to changing it, so move forward and get final surveying done.

In early 2014, Piedmont provided the Oiens with the survey results and proposal illustrating the Middle Route. At a March 2014 meeting with the City, the Oiens indicated they would not accept the City's offer and again expressed their desire for the Southern Route. By this point, the City had spent $3,600,000 on the new substation and was waiting to have it energized by the new transmission line.

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Bluebook (online)
817 S.E.2d 647, 424 S.C. 168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oien-family-invs-llc-v-piedmont-mun-power-agency-scctapp-2018.