State Highway Commission v. Hurliman

368 P.2d 724, 230 Or. 98, 1962 Ore. LEXIS 276
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 7, 1962
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 368 P.2d 724 (State Highway Commission v. Hurliman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Highway Commission v. Hurliman, 368 P.2d 724, 230 Or. 98, 1962 Ore. LEXIS 276 (Or. 1962).

Opinion

RQSSMAN, J.

This is an appeal by the defendants who are husband and wife from a judgment entered by the circuit court in an eminent domain proceeding instituted by the state acting through its Highway Commission to condemn for highway purposes approximately 2.3 acres of the defendants’ dairy farm. The jury found that the value of the land taken together with damages to the remainder was $5,000. The complaint alleged that $4,000 was the maximum sum to which the defendants were entitled. The answer alleged that the just amount that should be paid to the defendants was $11,480. Since the verdict was in a sum larger than that tendered the trial judge awarded the defendants the additional sum of $650 as compensation for their attorney’s services.

The defendants, in appealing, submit seven assignments of error. The first of them reads:

“That the court erred in rejecting defendants’ request for conclusion of law No. 2 reading as follows:
“That the description and the amount of land, sought to be condemned in this proceeding, is so indefinite, uncertain, ambiguous and vague that the amount of said land cannot be ascertained and said land cannot be identified with any degree of certainty; that no evidence was offered, during the trial of this cause, which would be sufficient to identify said land or the amount thereof and this proceeding should be dismissed.”

The second follows:

“That the court erred in overruling defendants’ motion to require plaintiff to make more definite and certain the description of the property sought to be condemned.”

[101]*101The defendants’ brief states that both of those assignments of error “involve the same questions” and argues them together.

The third assignment of error states:

“The court erred by admitting in evidence resolution dated March 10, 1960, Ex. 1.”

The fourth assignment of error submits this contention:

“That the court erred by admitting in evidence the letter from Highway Commission to defendants dated Jan. 30, 1959, Ex. 3, and register receipt, Ex. 2, showing letter received by defendants Feb. 5, 1959.”

The fifth states:

“That the court erred in rejecting defendants’ request for conclusion of law No. 1 reading as follows:
“That plaintiff failed, in all respects, to comply with the provisions of Sections 366.370 and 366.375, OES prior to the filing of this action and that by reason of such failure plaintiff was not authorized to commence and prosecute this action and this action should be dismissed.”

The defendants’ brief explains that the three assignments of error last quoted “involve substantially the same and similar questions and will be discussed together.” We will so treat them when we analyze them.

The sixth assignment of error presents this contention:

“That the court erred in refusing to give defendants’ requested instruction IY reading as follows :
“I instruct you that in considering the depreciated value of defendants’ property, you have a [102]*102right to take into consideration any risk, hazard, danger, and any interference in the nse, if any, in the operation and nse of defendants’ property resulting from the taking, and if you find that as a result of the tailing of defendants’ property, there is a reasonable possibility of injury to persons or to animals and other property, which would cause a prospective purchaser to pause and, on that account, seek a lower purchase price, you would have a right to take these matters into consideration in determining the depreciated value of defendants’ property.”

The seventh assignment of error states:

“That the court erred in refusing to give defendants’ requested instruction No. Y, reading as follows:
“In arriving at the depreciated value of defendants’ property you should take into consideration the continuing power, of the State Highway Commission, to change grades of said highway, relocate the same upon the land taken, regulate and direct traffic over said highway and to allow defendants compensation on account of said matters and any other use of said highway or a change in the same that the plaintiff, State Highway Commission, could lawfully do.”

Before analyzing the assignments of error we mil mention some additional facts.

The defendants own a dairy farm 55 acres in extent in Tillamook County and have forty cows. An old county road which many years ago was incorporated into the state’s secondary highway system cuts the farm into two segments. The purpose of this proceeding was to secure for the state 2.3 acres of the defendants’ land so that the Highway Commission could improve the facilities afforded by the old road. The improvements were completed before the case was [103]*103tried in the circuit court and the new road was at that time in use. The condemnation proceeding sought not only 2.3 acres of the defendants’ land but also whatever interest the defendants had by way of reversion in the old county road. The part of the latter which crossed the defendants’ land was about two acres in extent.

The defendants deemed that the part of their land which lay on the side of the road opposite from their home and milking barns afforded for eight months of the year superior pasturage and, therefore, they drove their cows across the road four times each day during eight months of the year. Since the old road was improved to a width of only thirty feet and was winding, thereby precluding fast traffic, the defendants did not find that the task of driving their cows across it was difficult or hazardous. But the improved road has a greater width, is comparatively straight, and a part of it which passes over the defendants’ property is 190 feet wide for a short stretch. At that point the defendants cross it with their cows. They contend that driving their cows across the new road is difficult and hazardous. They therefore argue that they are entitled to compensation not only for the land taken but also for damages to the remainder caused by the alleged increased hazard. We add that the matters just mentioned were submitted to the jury. The state offered no evidence upon the subjects of damage and land value. Those issues were resolved upon the evidence presented by the defendants.

We will now turn to the assignments of error. We have quoted them. The first two are based upon contentions that the description of the property which the state sought was “so indefinite, uncertain, ambiguous and vague” that the defendants could not identify [104]*104the ¿and which the state sought. The complaint described the defendants’ farm by metes and bounds. The. defendants do not criticize that description. After the complaint had described in the manner just indicated the entire farm it then described in the following terms the part which the plaintiff sought to acquire:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
368 P.2d 724, 230 Or. 98, 1962 Ore. LEXIS 276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-highway-commission-v-hurliman-or-1962.