State, by Mondale v. Mecklenburg

140 N.W.2d 310, 273 Minn. 135, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 802
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 4, 1966
DocketNos. 39,359, 39,360
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 140 N.W.2d 310 (State, by Mondale v. Mecklenburg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State, by Mondale v. Mecklenburg, 140 N.W.2d 310, 273 Minn. 135, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 802 (Mich. 1966).

Opinions

Nelson, Justice.

Condemnation proceedings in which Norman H. Tallakson and Anthony P. and Dorothy P. Peterson appealed to the Kandiyohi County District Court from awards for land taken from their farms for highway purposes. The state also appealed from both awards. The appeals were con[137]*137solidated for trial and post-trial proceedings below and have been so treated on appeal to this court.

After trial separate jury verdicts were returned on October 2, 1963, allowing damages as follows:

Anthony P. Peterson, Parcel 7, in the sum of $2,039;

Norman H. Tallakson, Parcel 3, in the sum of $4,213.

The owners of the parcels each filed an alternative motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial.

Peterson, as a part of his motion, moved the court for an additur to the damages awarded by the jury to increase the award to $7,000 or such other amount as the court might deem proper. Tallakson sought an additur increasing his award to $10,000 or such other amount as the court might deem proper. Both made alternative motions for a new trial on the grounds that insufficient damages were awarded by the jury, appearing to have been given under the influence of passion or prejudice; that the court erred in overruling the landowners’ objection to the testimony, especially the opinion and expert testimony, of witness Robert C. Wilson, who was called by the state; that the court in its charge made a statement concerning general and special benefits which was confusing and incorrectly stated the law; that the court made other erroneous rulings on evidence, all of which were objected to by the landowners; and that the verdicts are not justified by the evidence.

The land taken was required as a part of the right-of-way of Trunk Highway No. 71, which now divides each farm. The land taken from the Peterson farm was 6.12 acres, leaving 29.01 acres remaining on the west side of the new highway and 167.75 acres on the east side. From the Tallakson farm 21.42 acres were taken, leaving 16.44 acres on the west side of the highway and 204.89 acres on the east. At the time of the taking, April 1, 1963, the Peterson farm was a tract with irregular boundaries, bordering on Lake Ringo to the west, in part on Henderson Lake and in part on County Road No. 10 to the north, and on East Twin Lake and West Twin Lake to the south and southeast. The Tallakson farm, a tract about 1 mile long and Vi mile wide, lies to the south of the Peterson farm and borders in part on Lake Ringo to the west, on the [138]*138Peterson farm to the north, on the Peterson farm and West Twin Lake to the east, and on County Road No. 27 to the south.

The farms from which the right-of-way strips were taken are situated in rolling, rural, wildlife country containing lakes, trees, marshes, and streams. Much of the Peterson farm is wooded, and as a result of the taking a considerable number of trees were removed. The farm had been devoted to stock-farming operations involving the raising of cattle, hogs, and sheep. The Tallakson farm was devoted to general farming, and many trees were removed from it also.

The roads nearest the farm prior to the taking were County Roads No. 27, No. 9, and No. 10. County Road No. 10 bounds the Peterson farm for a distance to the north. County Road No. 9 runs north and south between East Twin Lake and West Twin Lake, cutting across the Peterson farm and meeting County Road No. 10, which runs east and west. County Road No. 27 runs east and west on the south side of the Tallakson farm. Before construction of Trunk Highway No. 71 there were no roads into or on the west part of either farm. At the time of the taking neither parcel had any commercial development, although the Peterson farm was subject to a duck-hunting lease. A small private road runs from the east farm-building area of the Peterson farm to the west where it ends at the southwest corner of Henderson Lake. A trailway in the western part of the farm was seeded to pasture by Peterson in 1947.

Soil sample borings in the highway right-of-way on the Peterson property revealed gravel estimated as worth 8 to 10 cents per cubic yard and described in the record as a fairly good grade of gravel. Similar borings in the highway right-of-way running across the Tallakson farm produced samples of gravel of a similar quality.

Trunk Highway No. 71 was constructed subsequent to the taking and runs generally north and south through the west side of the farms. Except for some sodding and seeding on the back slopes and some bituminous surfacing, the new highway was completed and was being used at the time of trial. The new highway is a double-lane, 24-foot road within right-of-way boundaries that are 200 feet wide. There is access (both physical and legal) to the highway from both sides of the subject properties. At [139]*139the time of trial entrances had already been placed from the properties— on each side — into the new highway.

At the trial the owners elicited testimony as to the value of these properties before and after the taking from seven witnesses. The state called one value witness.

Mr. Peterson testified that he had sustained damages of $7,498. A breakdown of that sum was as follows: $200 per acre for 6.12 acres taken for highway right-of-way, amounting to $1,224; an additional $2,900 damages to the 29.01 acres severed from the main acreage; required temporary and permanent fencing and gates at an estimated cost of $1,874; the loss of 850 trees valued at $1,000; and loss of hunting, valued at $500.

The new trunk highway cuts through the full length of the Tallakson farm, leaving 16.44 acres on the west side of the highway severed from the balance of the farm. Tallakson claims that the highway eradicates an old cattle trail, making it necessary for cattle to ford a swamp either by swimming or wading through mud to use a 35-acre pasture. A shelter belt of trees northwest of his farm buildings, which served as a windbreak, has for the most part been removed. He contends that the new highway has essentially severed his farm into three parts, without creating any way whereby cattle might pass from the main part of the farm over to the severed portions on the west. In estimating his damages he claims $250 per acre for 21.42 acres taken for the right-of-way, amounting to $5,355; $3,400 for the loss of 1,700 trees; $1,278 for required fencing and gates; $1,200 to $1,500 for extending a culvert and adding fill to make a sufficient grade; and $4,000 for severance of the portions of the farm west of the highway. Although he testified to the difference in value of his farm before the taking and after the taking as being $12,500, the foregoing breakdown totals from $15,233 to $15,533. He testified that this estimate did not include anything for gravel underlying the strip taken for highway purposes nor any loss for hunting grounds or on sales of recreational lots.

The record indicates that since the completion of the new highway gravel mining has been undertaken on a 20-acre tract on the Tallakson farm. Upon cross-examination, however, Mr. Tallakson did not concede [140]*140that the property had received special benefits because of the construction of the new highway, saying he had planned to put in his own road which would have been better and cheaper.

When Mr. Peterson was asked whether the state offered him the trees that were removed, his reply was that he did not have time to take all of them.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Gebremariam
590 N.W.2d 781 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1999)
Simmons v. City of Moscow
720 P.2d 197 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1986)
Marriage of Schack v. Schack
354 N.W.2d 871 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1984)
Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue
265 N.W.2d 825 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1978)
E. H. Willmus Properties, Inc. v. Village of New Brighton
199 N.W.2d 435 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1972)
State Ex Rel. Mattson v. Colon
194 N.W.2d 574 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1972)
State v. Michelson
170 N.W.2d 442 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1969)
City of St. Louis Park v. Engell
168 N.W.2d 3 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1969)
Fitch v. FARMERS UNION G. TERM. ASS'N (AMBER MILL. D.)
143 N.W.2d 192 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
140 N.W.2d 310, 273 Minn. 135, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-by-mondale-v-mecklenburg-minn-1966.