State v. Bentley

45 N.W.2d 185, 231 Minn. 531, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 724
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMay 19, 1950
DocketNos. 34,983, 34,984, 34,985, 34,986, 34,987, 34,988, 34,989, 34,990
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 45 N.W.2d 185 (State v. Bentley) 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 v. Bentley, 45 N.W.2d 185, 231 Minn. 531, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 724 (Mich. 1950).

Opinion

Frank T. Gallagher, Justice.

The state appeals from judgments granting a perpetual flowage easement in eight cases, which were consolidated for trial below [533]*533and on appeal before this court. Respondents were petitioners in intervention in a condemnation proceeding commenced by the state in June 1935 to acquire property in fee title for a work relief and flood control project across the Minnesota River at the south end of Big Stone Lake. The condemnation proceeding has been before this court twice on petitions for intervention. State, by Peterson, v. Bentley (Medbery Brothers), 216 Minn. 146, 12 N. W. (2d) 347, and State, by Peterson, v. Bentley (Frank Nelson), 224 Minn. 244, 28 N. W. (2d) 179, 770. Those decisions will be referred to hereinafter as the Medbery case and the Nelson case, respectively. The Nelson case involved the same • interveners as those who are respondents on this appeal. The Medbery case involved other interveners, but parties who were not included in the original petition for condemnation. Both proceedings are enlargements of the original 1935 petition.

The original condemnation proceeding was instituted by the attorney general on June 26,1935, to acquire fee title to lánds located in Big Stone county, Minnesota, near the city of Ortonville, in connection with the construction of a work relief project known as “F. A. 1 — Big Stone-Whetstone Project.” The petition recites that it was necessary to maintain the water in the reservoir to be established as part of the flood control dams and dikes at an elevation not to exceed 968 feet sea level datum. Authority for the project was a resolution by the executive council of the state of Minnesota to acquire the necessary land under the power of eminent domain. Under L. 1935, c. 51, the legislature appropriated a $5,000,000 emergency fund authorizing the executive council to acquire any land needed to carry on the work relief and employment.2

[534]*534Commissioners in the original proceeding to ascertain the.amount of damages were appointed September 18, 1935. These commission[535]*535ers filed their report with the clerk of the district court on October 25, 1935. Work on the project began in the fall of 1935 and was completed in the spring of 1937, but no certificate of completion, as required by M. S. A. 117.20(4), was ever filed in the original proceeding3 or in subsequent proceedings.

In January 1938, the owners of the Medbery lands, about one-half of which are located in Minnesota and about one-half in South Dakota, filed a petition in intervention by which they sought to bring their Minnesota land into the condemnation proceeding, asserting damage by flowage and a taking by the state. Their lands, like the lands of the owners in the cases at bar, had not been included in the original condemnation proceeding. That petition came on for hearing August 29, 1942, at which time the Medberys amended their petition to include damages for the years 1937 to 1942, inclusive. The Big Stone Canning Company petitioned to intervene in the Medbery proceeding on October 12, 1942. The facts, proceedings, and appeals are found in State, by Peterson, v. Bentley, 216 Minn. 146, 12 N. W. (2d) 347, supra. This court there held that the original condemnation proceeding was still open and that the court below was authorized, by virtue of its inherent power and under the intervention statute (§ 544.13), to permit intervention of the landowners to recover just compensation. The Medbery' de[536]*536cisión also refused a writ of prohibition over the lands located in South Dakota. On application for reargument, this court stated that the only question which remained was the value of each parcel of property taken, and the cases were remanded to the district court.

.The present proceedings, which were commenced by motions to intervene in the original 1935 proceeding, were filed at various dates ranging from the petition of William C. Braun on August 22, 1942, to that of Elmer Schiefelbein and Joseph Creese on February 15, 1946. All petitions in intervention alleged that the lands, although no.t included in the original condemnation proceeding, were in fact damaged and taken as a result of the construction and operation of the project. Each landowner demanded compensation for the taking. .The state answered, denying the court’s jurisdiction, since all funds had been exhausted and authority for the project had been terminated; alleging that the project had been completed in 1937; setting up the six-year statute of limitations as to both® the Minnesota and South Dakota actions based on a contract implied in fact; and denying the court’s jurisdiction over the South Dakota lands. The state admitted that no final certificate of completion had been filed in the original eminent domain proceeding.

The case was tried below on the issue of a taking of title and a perpetual flowage easement rather than for a trespass. This was understood by the court and by counsel for all parties. The court denied the state’s motion that the petition stated no cause of action and that it gave no jurisdiction over the South Dakota land. After a trial on the issue of a taking, the court filed its order May 24, 1946, granting the petition of interveners; determining that the lands owned by respondents here had been taken up to an elevation of 976 project datum level; and appointing commissioners to determine the amount of damages. The state appealed from an order denying its motion to amend the order appointing commissioners or, in the alternative, for a new trial. We held that such an order in a condemnation proceeding is nonappealable (State, by Peterson, v. Bentley [Nelson] 224 Minn. 244, 28 N. W. [2d] 179, 770), on the [537]*537ground that appellants could not do indirectly what they were not permitted to do directly.

After the decision in the Nelson case, the commissioners assessed damages to each parcel of land and filed their award with the clerk of the district court on August 8, 1947. The commissioners’ award was filed as of April 13, 1937, based upon the acquisition of a perpetual flowage easement at the date the project was completed and placed in operation. The state appealed from that award. The issue of damages only was tried before the court and a jury in October 1947. The footnote table4 shows the jury’s verdict and interest awarded from April 13,1937, with the judgment total in each case. The present appeals are from those judgments.

The lands involved in the appeal are variously located in Traverse and Big Stone counties, Minnesota, and in Grant and Roberts counties, South Dakota. The lands of respondents Joseph Creese, A. I. Reed, Edward F. Frevert, Ella Frevert, and Virginia and Clarence Kolb are situate in Grant and Roberts counties, South Dakota, and are riparian to the west shore of Big Stone Lake. The Nelson and Braun lands are in Big Stone county, Minnesota, and are riparian to the east shore of Big Stone Lake. The lands of Albert and Elmer Schiefelbein are about one-half mile north of the lake near the village of Browns Valley, Traverse county, on the east of, but not riparian to, Big Stone Lake. Big Stone Lake is fed by the [538]*538Little Minnesota River. The water flows out of the dam and control works near Ortonville.

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Bluebook (online)
45 N.W.2d 185, 231 Minn. 531, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 724, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bentley-minn-1950.