Skaff v. City of Sioux City

120 N.W.2d 439, 255 Iowa 49, 1963 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 675
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 12, 1963
Docket50908
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 120 N.W.2d 439 (Skaff v. City of Sioux City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Skaff v. City of Sioux City, 120 N.W.2d 439, 255 Iowa 49, 1963 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 675 (iowa 1963).

Opinions

Snell, J.

This is an appeal involving compensation due property owners incident to, but not for, the taking of real property by eminent domain. On the issue before us the facts are not in dispute. By agreement the present issue was separately tried to the court without a jury.

Plaintiffs, as owners, claim that in a condemnation appeal involving their real estate they should be awarded the cost of moving personal property from the condemned premises. They claim cost of moving is a “reduction in value” under section 472.14, Code of Iowa. From an adverse ruling by the trial court plaintiffs appeal.

Defendant, City of Sioux City, in January 1962 by condemnation proceedings appropriated real estate of plaintiffs on and [51]*51from which plaintiffs operated a wholesale and retail roofing and building supply business. The taking included all of the real estate but none of the personal property located thereon. Plaintiffs acquired another location for their business and moved their merchandise and equipment from the condemned premises to the new location. The merchandise was mostly roofing, heavy materials and equipment. Plaintiffs used their own employees and equipment and computed the cost of moving to be $5318.84. A platform was dismantled and a few boards split, but no claim is made for these items. There is no claim that personal property was damaged or destroyed. Plaintiffs claim that their personal property was “reduced in value” in the amount of their moving expense within the meaning of section 472.14, Code of Iowa, and that they are entitled to compensation to that extent.

Plaintiffs’ damage because of the appropriation of their real estate has been separately determined and is not involved here.

Section 472.14, Code of Iowa, relates to appraisement by commissioners of property sought to be condemned. In 1959, chapter 318, Acts of the Fifty-eighth General Assembly, amended this section as it appeared in the 1958 Code by adding the following words, “In assessing the damages the owner or tenant will sustain, the commissioners shall consider and make allowance for personal property which is damaged or destroyed or reduced in value.” We have recently considered this amendment but from an entirely different factual premise. See Estelle v. Iowa State Highway Commission, infra.

In a recent case, Freshwater v. Wildman, 254 Iowa 404, 117 N.W.2d 910, we had before us the question of consequential damages. In considering section 472.14 it was held that the statutory provision for determination of consequential damages did not on appeal change the rule as to measure of damage. In the case before us plaintiffs’ claim is not based on and we need not consider consequential damages. The sole question presented to the trial court and to us is whether expense of moving merchandise and movable equipment constitutes reduction in value under section 472.14, 1962 Code of Iowa.

The word value is defined in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, in a number of ways. The word means the amount of a commodity, service, or medium of [52]*52exchange that is the equivalent of something else; the monetary worth of something; the marketable price usually in terms of a medium of exchange.

In re Estate of McGhee v. State, 105 Iowa 9, 15, 74 N.W. 695,' holds that when the word “value” is applied to property and no qualification is expressed or implied it means the price which the property will command in the market.

It is well settled in Iowa that when there is an entire taking the measure of damage is the reasonable market value at the time, of the condemnation. Kaperonis v. Iowa State Highway Commission, 251 Iowa 415, 416, 100 N.W.2d 901.

Volume 44, Words and Phrases, “Value”, beginning on page 74 sets forth the judicial definitions of the word “value” in connection with “market value.” The generally accepted definition is in accord with the McGhee case, supra. Bearing in mind that we are not considering consequential damages or value in use to the owner the consensus of the best considered cases is that the word “value” in the statute means market value. The cases hold that “market value”, “value” and “cash value” are synonymous.

What an article or stock of merchandise will command on the market (market value) is not controlled by any determination of the owners’ profit or loss, handling charge or cost of business operation.

Increased handling charge might reduce the owners’ opportunity for profit and might be a consequential damage incident to the condemnation of real estate, but it does not reduce the value of the merchandise on the open market.

Plaintiffs testified that except for fluctuation in the market the price of merchandise was exactly the same in the new and old locations.

Article I, section 18, Constitution of Iowa, provides that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation being first made or secured. In the case before us plaintiffs do not claim that there was any taking of personal property. Their claim is based solely on the wording of the cited statute.

We are not considering the compensation due for the taking of a leasehold. A tenant for years is the owner of an [53]*53estate; a leasehold is property subject to condemnation upon the payment of just compensation. A leasehold estate is separate and distinct from the estate of the owner, i.e., the fee. Des Moines Wet Wash Laundry y. City of Des Moines, 197 Iowa 1082, 1085, 198 N.W. 486, 34 A. L. R. 1517; Korf v. Fleming, 239 Iowa 501, 516, 32 N.W.2d 85, 3 A. L. R.2d 270. See also Wicks v. Iowa State Highway Commission, 254 Iowa 998, 119 N.W.2d 781.

The factual situation before us is not the same as in Des Moines Wet Wash case, supra, nor in Estelle v. Iowa State Highway Commission, 254 Iowa 1238, 119 N.W.2d 900. In each of those eases there was a condemnation of a leasehold with equipment particularly adapted to the business. The cases did not involve expense of moving merchandise held for sale and having the same market value in the new location as in the old.

Plaintiffs rely primarily on language in the Des Moines Wet Wash case, -supra. In that case the City of Des Moines condemned land on which was situated a building used and occupied by plaintiff, lessee. Plaintiff operated a laundry in the leased building. The lease had three and one-half years to run. The condemnation terminated plaintiff’s business and destroyed its plumbing, equipment and steam connections installed at its own expense. Plaintiff was compelled to tear up and move its machinery and appliances to another location. It was held that among the several elements bearing upon value of plaintiff’s leasehold the jury might consider the fair and reasonable cost of removing the machinery and equipment and the fair and reasonable cost of cartage or transportation for a reasonable distance. The question was the damage suffered by taking of the leasehold and not the per se reduction in value of personal property. The case does not hold that moving expense is a separate, distinct and recoverable cost.

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172 N.W.2d 790 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1969)
Interstate Finance Corp. v. City of Iowa City
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Comstock v. Iowa State Highway Commission
121 N.W.2d 205 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1963)
Skaff v. City of Sioux City
120 N.W.2d 439 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
120 N.W.2d 439, 255 Iowa 49, 1963 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 675, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/skaff-v-city-of-sioux-city-iowa-1963.