Southern Pacific Co. v. State

438 S.W.2d 413
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 19, 1969
DocketNo. 5966
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 438 S.W.2d 413 (Southern Pacific Co. v. State) 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
Southern Pacific Co. v. State, 438 S.W.2d 413 (Tex. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION

FRASER, Chief Justice.

This is a condemnation case where the only question submitted to the jury involved the value of the property taken by the State in condemnation. The Commissioners placed a value of $328,800.00 on the property. On appeal to the County Court at Law No. One of El Paso County, Texas, the jury awarded the sum of $125,000.00. For purposes of brevity and clarity, the plaintiff-appellee will be hereinafter referred to as the “State”, and the appellant referred to as the “Appellant”.

The State brought this condemnation proceeding to condemn 242,512 square feet of land belonging to Appellant and located in the City of El Paso, Texas. The land was taken by agreement between the parties on April 25, 1966, this being the date of the execution of the right of entry agreement between the State and Appellant. It was after this that the Commissioners, who had been duly appointed, held hearings and awarded Appellant the sum of $328,800.00. The State appealed from the award, and the aforesaid jury trial was held. Both sides placed value witnesses before the jury, which, as stated above, rendered a verdict in the sum of $125,000.-00, and judgment was entered based on said verdict.

The State had deposited, on December 15, 1966, the sum of $328,800.00, which was the amount of the Commissioners’ award. This amount had been withdrawn from the registry of the court by Appellant. The court entered judgment for the State and decreed that it recover from Appellant the sum of $203,800.00, said sum being the difference in the amount of the judgment and the amount of the award of the Commissioners. Such judgment was entered October 18, 1967. On the same date, Appellant deposited into the registry of the court two checks, one in the amount of $203,800.00, and the other in the amount of $125,000.00. Subsequently, on the 4th day of January, 1968, the State withdrew, by proper motion and order, the sum of $203,800.00 from the registry of the court.

We will first consider the State’s motion petitioning the court not to consider Appellant’s appeal and points of error. The State maintains in this motion that because it withdrew the sum of $203,800 from the registry of the court, leaving therein the amount found by the judgment of the court —to-wit, $125,000.00 — that the judgment has been satisfied as entered, and maintains that the State has satisfied such judgment. In other words on October 18, 1967, the defendant-appellant deposited into the registry of the court the total sum of $328,-800.00, which was a return of all the money that had been deposited by the State after the Commissioners made their award. The State then withdrew the sum of $203,800.-00, leaving $125,000.00 in the registry of the court, claiming that such action satisfied and extinguished the judgment of the court as entered. The State maintains that the action of the Appellant in paying all the money back into court amounted to an acceptance of the judgment.

We do not find sufficient merit in this motion to authorize our granting the [416]*416same. The Supreme Court of Texas, in the case of Fort Worth Concrete Company v. State, 400 S.W.2d 314 (1966), pointed out that the purpose of such deposit and the rights flowing therefrom is to protect or act as security for any possible damage suffered by reason of dispossession. We agree with the State that the landowner can withdraw this award or leave it in the registry of the court. In other words, Appellant would still be entitled to continue its appeal if it had retained, after judgment was entered and pending appeal, the entire amount of the Commissioners’ award, or had left the entire amount in the registry of the court. Henslee v. State, Tex.Civ.App., 375 S.W.2d 474 (ref., n. r. e.). We also agree that by refunding the entire Commissioners’ award, Appellant clearly indicated that it was not satisfied with the jury verdict and the judgment entered thereon, and would appeal from that judgment. It must be noted that Appellant did not withdraw money deposited by the State after judgment, but only after the award. In other words, the Appellant withdrew money after the award, re-deposited the same, and has not drawn any money from the court after the judgment on which this appeal is based. Appellee-State cites several cases in support of its position, but these are cases where the award of the Commissioners, and not the amount entered pursuant to the court judgment, that had been accepted by the landowner. In the case of Latimer v. State, 328 S.W.2d 242 (n. r. e.), appellant did not withdraw money deposited by the State after judgment, but after the Commissioners’ award. The Beaumont Court of Civil Appeals, in such case, noted that under Vernon’s Ann. Civ.St. Article 3268, the condemnee could withdraw the money and still prosecute his appeal; but said court points out that several cited cases were not in point, in as much as it was the award of the Commissioners in such cases, and not the amount entered pursuant to the court judgment, that had been accepted by the landowner. The court further emphasizes and points up that Article 3268, V.T.C.S., is authority for prosecuting an appeal after having accepted or appropriated the Commissioners’ award, but such authority does not apply to an appeal from a judgment award. The court points out that removal of the condemnation proceeding to a county court creates a trial de novo situation, with different rules governing when an appeal is perfected from a court judgment, rather than from an award by the Commissioners. Here, the Appellant obviously did not accept the judgment of the trial court, because it refunded the entire Commissioners’ award, indicating that it was not satisfied with the verdict in the County Court at Law and the judgment entered thereon, and Appellant would, therefore, appeal from such judgment.

For these reasons, the State’s motion not to consider this Appellant’s appeal and points of error is overruled.

Appellant’s first point of error charges that the court erred in failing and refusing to grant its motion for mistrial when the State injected into the record the fact that the Appellant had already been paid |97,000.00 for the costs of moving pole lines, track, etc. The question asked by the State of Mr. Arthur Abbott, a witness for Appellant, was this: “Isn’t it a fact, Mr. Abbott, that the Southern Pacific had already been paid some $97,000.00 to move all of these pole lines and * * * Appellant takes the position that this is incurable error caused by misconduct on the part of an attorney in asking the question. We cannot agree with the Appellant’s position. In the first place, we do not think the question was so inflammable and irremovable from the minds of the jury that the instruction of the court was not adequately curative, nor was the question of such character as to suggest the impossibility of withdrawing the impression produced on the minds of the jurors. Further, the Appellant had, for approximately two days, questioned Mr. Abbott regarding the removal and location of certain pole lines, signals, switches, etc. The State maintains that Appellant intro[417]*417duced considerable testimony on direct examination that such relocation and removal was necessary due to the freeway, and that such action invited and required inquiry and cross examination (the disputed, question here was on cross examination).

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Bluebook (online)
438 S.W.2d 413, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-pacific-co-v-state-texapp-1969.