State Highway Commission v. Smith

1930 OK 480, 293 P. 1002, 146 Okla. 243, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 322
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 28, 1930
Docket19601
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 1930 OK 480 (State Highway Commission v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma 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. Smith, 1930 OK 480, 293 P. 1002, 146 Okla. 243, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 322 (Okla. 1930).

Opinion

ANDREWS, J.

This case was commenced by the defendant in error filing a petition in the district court of Grady county alleging consequential damage to his land from the construction by the plaintiff in error of a public highway on adjoining land. After the freeholders had made their return, plaintiff in error filed its exceptions and included therein the statement that the petition of the plaintiff for appointment of the freeholders was insufficient in law to warrant and authorize the district judge of Grady county to appoint them and prayed the court to set aside, vacate, and hold for naught their report and to dismiss the petition. This was overruled by the trial court, and the appeal is from that order.

The plaintiff in error presents but one proposition: A landowner may not resort to-condemnation proceedings to ascertain damages to his land caused by the construction, of a highway upon the land of another.

A review of the authorities cited in 20 C. J., under the heading, “Eminent Domain,”' construing the various constitutional and legislative provisions, reveals that three conditions are presented: First, cases where private property is taken for public use;, second, where a part of a tract is taken and the residue of the tract suffers a direct physical damage as a result of the taking of a part; and third, where a property, no part of which -was taken for public use, sustains-a consequential damage by reason of the making of a public improvement.

Under constitutional and statutory provisions prohibiting the taking of private property for public use, the courts uniformly hold that damages sustained from the actual taking of a portion of the property may be recovered. Almost all of the courts hold that where a part of the property is taken and the residue suffers direct physical damages as a result of the taking of a part, the damage to the residue constitutes a taking within the meaning of those provisions. Almost all of the courts formerly held that construction did not extend to-property no part of which had been taken for public use but which had been consequentially damaged by reason of the making of a pul die improvement. The injustice of the last class of holdings was generally recognized and as a result thereof many of the constitutional and legislative provisions were changed so as to prohibit both the taking and the damaging of property for publie use. Those changes were generally made prior to the adoption of the Constitution of Oklahoma, and. we think that the inclusion in our Constitution of the prohibition against the taking or damaging of private property for public use was due to the opinion of its makers that the consequential damage resulting from public improvements on other land should be compensated. That has been the consistent holding of this court.

In Page v. Oklahoma City, 129 Okla. 28, 263 Pac. 448, the suit was for damages against the city caused by the discharge of sewage upon the premises and offensive odors arising therefrom. This court said:

*245 "While her property was not taken out and out for public use, it was damaged by public use to the extent of rendering it comparatively worthless, and she is entitled to just compensation for the damages she sustained. This is plain under the Constitution and conclusive under the facts. She was therefore entitled to compensation for the damages she sustained by reason of the public use of her property.”

In City of Tulsa v. Hindman, 128 Okla. 169, 261 Pac. 910, the action was for damages, and the court held:

“Where a city widens or opens a street for automobile and motor truck traffic to' its entire width, thereby consuming- all space theretofore assigned and set apart for sidewalks or footroads, it is liable to abutting property owners for any consequential damages resulting to such property. The damage is the depreciation in the market value of the property.”

In Oklahoma City v. Vetter, 72 Okla. 196, 179 Pac. 473, a suit was brought against the city to recover damages sustained from a depreciation of the market value of certain city real estate, alleged to have been suitable for residential and home purposes, by reason of the erection on adjoining property of a pesthouse or hospital for the confinement and treatment of diseases. The question was whether the location of the pesthouse damaged- the property in the sense in which the term is used in the Constitution. This court held:

“Depreciation of the value of real property caused by establishing a hospital for .contagious diseases, commonly known as a pesthouse, on adjacent land, although under statutory authority, constitutes a damaging of private property for public use, for which compensation must be made, within the meaning of section 24, art. 2, of the Constitution”

—following the rule announced in City of Muskogee v. Hancock, 58 Okla. 1, 158 Pac. 622. In that case this court held:

“Under section 24, art. 2, of the Constitution, providing that ‘private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation,’ a recovery may be had in all cases where private property is damaged in making an improvement that is public in its nature, such as a city sewer. It is not required that the damages shall be caused by trespass, or an actual physical invasion of the owner’s real estate; but if the construction of the sewer is the cause of the damage, though consequential, the ow ner of the property damaged may recover”

—and that:

“The use of the words ‘or damaged,’ in addition to the word ‘taken,’ in the above section of the Constitution, indicates a deliberate purpose not to confine a recovery to eases where there is a physical invasion of the property affected, but to make the test of liability the fact that private property has been ‘damaged’ for the public use, without regard to the means by which the injury was effected.”

If an action for damages could be maintained against the state, we would have no hesitancy in holding that actions to .recover for consequential damages to private property from the making of public improvements could be maintained against the state. However, that issue is not here for determination. The only question presented by this record is whether or not the petition filed with the district court in this case gave that court jurisdiction to proceed with the appointment of freeholders to ascertain the amount of compensation.

The plaintiff in error relies upon the case of Edwards v. Thrash, 26 Okla. 472, 109 Pac. 832. The question there before this court was whether or not the construction of a public improvement could be enjoined until the abutting property owner was compensated for the consequential damages arising from the making of the improvement. This court held that an injunction would not lie. We think that section 24, art. 2, of the Constitution is capable of no other construction. While that section pertains to property taken or damaged, the provisions requiring compensation to be made prior to the construction of the improvements are limited by the terms of the section to those cases where the property is disturbed or the proprietary rights of the owner divested, and those provisions do not apply to consequential damages.

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

Related

STATE ex rel. DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION v. TRADE WINDS MOTOR HOTEL EAST
484 P.3d 301 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2020)
Vaughn v. City of Muskogee
2015 OK CIV APP 76 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2015)
Williams v. State Ex Rel. Department of Transportation
2000 OK CIV APP 19 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2000)
Underwood v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation
1993 OK CIV APP 40 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1993)
Underwood v. STATE EX REL. DOT
849 P.2d 1113 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1993)
Corbell v. State Ex Rel. Department of Transportation
1993 OK CIV APP 45 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1993)
State v. Alford
1959 OK 241 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1959)
Grand River Dam Authority v. Rose
1943 OK 239 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1943)
Rose v. State of California
123 P.2d 505 (California Supreme Court, 1942)
State v. Adams
1940 OK 320 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1940)
Hirt v. City of Casper
103 P.2d 394 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1940)
Oklahoma City v. Collins-Dietz-Morris Co.
79 P.2d 791 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)
Hawks v. Walsh
1936 OK 579 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1936)
State Highway Commission v. Brixey
1936 OK 595 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1936)
Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. Jennings
1936 OK 45 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1936)
Stedman v. State Highway Commission
1935 OK 1028 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
St. Louis-S. F. Ry. Co. v. Matthews
1935 OK 775 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Wrightsman v. Southwestern Natural Gas Co.
1935 OK 724 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co. v. Larwood
1935 OK 685 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Morse v. Board of Com'rs of Marshall County
1934 OK 700 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1930 OK 480, 293 P. 1002, 146 Okla. 243, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-highway-commission-v-smith-okla-1930.