STATE, DEPT. OF TRANSP. & DEV. v. C. Schexnayder, Inc.

485 So. 2d 939, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 6670
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 15, 1986
DocketCA 84 1368
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 485 So. 2d 939 (STATE, DEPT. OF TRANSP. & DEV. v. C. Schexnayder, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE, DEPT. OF TRANSP. & DEV. v. C. Schexnayder, Inc., 485 So. 2d 939, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 6670 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

485 So.2d 939 (1986)

STATE of Louisiana, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION & DEVELOPMENT
v.
C. SCHEXNAYDER, INC.

No. CA 84 1368.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

February 25, 1986.
On Rehearing April 15, 1986.

*940 John L. Goldsmith, Bernard L. Malone, Jr., Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee State of Louisiana, Dept. of Transp. and Development.

Raymond Gautreau, Donaldsonville, for defendant-appellant C. Schexnayder, Inc.

Before EDWARDS, LANIER and JOHN S. COVINGTON, JJ.

JOHN S. COVINGTON, Judge.

Plaintiff expropriated two small parcels of land from defendant's approximately 1,130 acres of contiguous land, all except ten acres of which is located in the western part of Ascension Parish. The two separate expropriations were accomplished under the Quick Taking Statute, La.R.S. 48:441 et seq., by two separate takings, the first suit having been filed in St. James Parish on April 3, 1979 and the second suit having been filed in Ascension on February 3, 1983. In the first taking, consisting of 2.99 acres of the ten acres located in St. James Parish, plaintiff deposited in the Registry of the Court $2,699.00. In the second taking, consisting of 14.062 acres located in Ascension Parish, plaintiff deposited $58,372.00.

Defendant asserted in its answer filed in each suit that the amount deposited by plaintiff was not just and adequate compensation for either taking. Additionally, defendant sought attorney fees of 25% of the difference between the amount deposited and the amount finally awarded, and for all costs, including expert appraiser's fees. On defendant's motion the St. James and Ascension Parish suits were consolidated for trial and were tried in Ascension Parish on March 23, 1984.

The only question presented at trial, and in this appeal, is the value of the land taken for highway construction purposes. Defendant made no claim for severance damages.

The trial court accepted the valuations of Mr. Carr T. Dowell, III, one of plaintiff's two appraisers. Mr. Dowell testified that the 2.99 acres had a value of $3,000.00 per acre at the time of taking and the 14.062 acres had a value of $4,500.00 per acre at the time of taking. Mr. Kermit Williams, defendant's appraiser, fixed the per acre value at $13,500.00 for the 2.99 acres and $15,400.00 for the 14.062 acres. Plaintiff's other appraiser, Peter J. Talluto, fixed the per acre value at $2,600.00 and $3,500.00 for the first and second takings, respectively.

The trial court rejected Mr. Williams' opinion that the highest and best use of the subject properties was highway commercial, reasoning, in part, as follows:

The extreme difference in values is due to the fact that Messers. Dowell and Talluto established the highest and best use of the subject property to be agricultural use and some potential for residential development. Mr. Williams established the highest and best use to be highway commercial.
The Court is of the opinion that the highest and best use of the subject properties is conversion to agricultural use. The sales used by Mr. Williams are not truly comparable in nature to the subject tracts as they consist either of small tracts in or near a small shopping center some seven or eight miles away in Assumption Parish in close proximity to residential areas or some isolated sales of property adjoining the Sunshine Bridge in close proximity to the City of Donaldsonville. All the above comparables have unique factors of location and accessability (sic) not found in the subject tracts.
After reviewing all of the testimony and evidence that has been presented ... and considering all the comparables and the respective approaches to value taken by ... [all three appraisers,] this Court is of the opinion that [Mr. Dowell's opinion of valuation is the most accurate]. (Brackets supplied.)

*941 Defendant assigns as error the trial court's (1) accepting Mr. Dowell's opinion that the highest and best use of subject property was agricultural and in accepting the "comparable sales" utilized by Mr. Dowell in arriving at valuation, (2) giving any weight to the opinion testimony of either Mr. Dowell or Mr. Talluto because neither of them were familiar with the subject property, the area, the growth potential, and "except for an isolated instance... years before" neither appraiser had "done any work in the area" where the subject property is located, and (3) failing to adopt the testimony of Mr. Williams concerning highest and best use, past growth, and potential growth, based on his familiarity with the area and the "tremendous amount of work" he has done in the area.

This court, in State, Through Department of Highways v. Wilson, 372 So.2d 632 (La.App. 1st Cir.1979), found no manifest error in the district court's acceptence of the opinion testimony of Kermit Williams, reasoning, in part, as follows:

In expropriation proceedings, the trial court's ... evaluation of, and the weight given to, the testimony of expert witnesses will not be disturbed on review absent a showing of manifest error....
The trial judge accepted Williams' opinion ... [and] we believe his testimony... is corroborated by the facts in the record and is not entirely speculative. 372 So.2d at 634. (Brackets and elipsis supplied.)

In State, Through Department of Transportation v. Townsend, 473 So.2d 99 (La.App. 3d Cir.1985), the Third Circuit Court of Appeal, on rehearing, reiterated that "A trial judge may give whatever weight he deems appropriate to the testimony of any and all witnesses in making his factual determination of the property taken, and his fixing of the value will not be disturbed in the absence of manifest error." The court observed that "The trial court heard the testimony of three appraisers and accepted the conclusion of one over the other two with respect to the value of the cleared farmland" and held that conclusion "was not manifestly erroneous." 473 So.2d at 105.

All three appraisers utilized the market data approach to valuation in arriving at their respective opinions of the value of the land at the time of each taking. The "market data" approach employs the use of "comparable sales" in ascertaining market value.

As stated in Dakin & Klein's scholarly treatise, Eminent Domain in Louisiana (The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1970), § 5(A), p. 181:

... The term "comparables" refers to an appraisal technique which consists of evaluating sales of property deemed comparable to the subject property in order to estimate the value which would be placed upon the subject property by the market itself. In theory and practice, the comparable sales approach is based upon the economic principle of substitution: "When a property is replacable in the market, its value tends to be set at the cost of acquiring an equally desirable substitute property....
Whether a particular sale of a parcel is found to be comparable depends upon a number of factors. The most frequently judicially considered factors include proximity in time and circumstance of the sale, location of the land, size of the parcel, and physical characteristics of the land.
. . . . .
§ 5(B)(2)(b) contains the observation that:
Generally, sales of similar property must be in the vicinity of the property being expropriated before they can be considered comparable.

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Bluebook (online)
485 So. 2d 939, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 6670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-dept-of-transp-dev-v-c-schexnayder-inc-lactapp-1986.