State v. McCarley

247 S.W.3d 323, 2007 WL 4462590
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 21, 2008·No. 03-07-00069-CV·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinions

OPINION

BOB PEMBERTON, Justice.

The State of Texas appeals from a judgment in a statutory condemnation proceeding awarding Lloyd McCarley $366,820 as just compensation for the State’s taking of 836 square feet from his property for use in the Texas Department of Transportation’s construction of the State Highway 45 toll road project. The judgment was based on a jury’s verdict on a single issue inquiring as to the amount of damages. The jury awarded $371,000. The trial court credited the State’s prior deposit of the amount of the special commissioner’s award in order to take possession— $4,180 — to yield the judgment amount.

[324] The State argues that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the jury’s damages award. At trial, McCarley presented proof that the State’s use of his property severely diminished the value of his remainder by altering its drainage in a manner making it impossible for him to meet the City of Austin’s requirements for obtaining the permits necessary to develop it. The State urges that such damages “do not arise from the condemnation of the 836 square feet or to the uses which will be made by TxDOT of the 836 square feet [but] arise from an alleged use of TxDOT’s existing right of way,” and, consequently, are not compensable. See State, City of Austin v. Schmidt, 867 S.W.2d 769, 777-79 (Tex.1993). Based on that same premise, the State argues that McCarley has asserted only an inverse condemnation claim. See Tex. Const, art. I, § 17; City of Austin v. Casiraghi, 656 S.W.2d 576, 579-80 (Tex.App.-Austin 1983, no pet.).1 It brings several issues challenging whether McCarley’s “inverse condemnation claim” is ripe where the property has not actually flooded and McCarley has not applied for and been denied a development permit, see Hubler v. City of Corpus Christy 564 S.W.2d 816, 822-23 (Tex.Civ.App.-Corpus Christi 1978, writ ref'd n.r.e.); whether McCarley properly pled and proved the intent element of an inverse condemnation claim, see City of Dallas v. Jennings, 142 S.W.3d 310, 314 (Tex.2004); and whether McCarley retained a justiciable interest in his “inverse condemnation claim.”

Because we conclude that the evidence was legally and factually sufficient to support the jury’s award of $371,000 as damages for the State’s statutory condemnation of McCarley’s property, we will affirm the trial court’s judgment.

To address the State’s challenge to the jury’s damages award, we apply the familiar standards of legal and factual sufficiency review.2 With each, the starting point of [325] our analysis — barring a preserved and valid complaint of charge error — is the charge actually submitted to the jury. Osterberg v. Peca, 12 S.W.3d 31, 55 (Tex.2000) (legal sufficiency); Golden Eagle Archery, Inc. v. Jackson, 116 S.W.3d 757, 762 (Tex.2003).(factual sufficiency); Ancira Enters., Inc. v. Fischer, 178 S.W.3d 82, 93 (Tex.App.-Austin 2005, no pet.). The State brings no complaint of charge error on appeal.

The sole issue submitted to the jury inquired:

On September 16, 2003 [the date the State took possession of the property], what was the difference between (a) the fair market value of the landowner’s whole property before the taking, excluding any consideration of the condemnation or proposed project and (b) the fair market value of the remainder only, after the taking, giving consideration to the uses to which the condemned part is to be subjected.
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Answer by stating the difference in Fair Market Value in dollars and cents.

The jury was given the following definitions:

“Fair Market Value” means the price which the property would bring when it is offered for sale by one who desires, but is not obligated to sell, and is bought by one who is under no necessity of buying it, taking into account all of the uses to which it is reasonably adaptable and for which it either is or in all reasonable probability will become available within a reasonable future period. In making your determination of Fair Market Value, you will consider the “Highest and Best Use” of the land involved. “Highest and Best Use” means that legal use to which the property could have been adapted on the date of taking, or within the reasonably foreseeable future thereafter which was legally permissible, physically possible, financially feasible, and provided the owner with the greatest net return.

The jury was thus instructed to calculate McCarley’s damages by comparing the fair market value of his property before and after the taking, reflecting both the loss of the part taken plus any diminution of the remainder’s value. See Westgate, Ltd. v. State, 843 S.W.2d 448, 456-57 (Tex.1992) (explaining that this form of submission is appropriate in cases where the part taken is difficult to value as severed land and there is no evidence that the condemnation increased the remainder’s value).

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State v. McCarley, 247 S.W.3d 323, 2007 WL 4462590 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

247 S.W.3d 323 (State v. McCarley) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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