State v. Meadowbrook, Inc.

239 So. 2d 891, 286 Ala. 359, 1970 Ala. LEXIS 922
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedAugust 20, 1970
Docket6 Div. 588
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 239 So. 2d 891 (State v. Meadowbrook, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Meadowbrook, Inc., 239 So. 2d 891, 286 Ala. 359, 1970 Ala. LEXIS 922 (Ala. 1970).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal in a condemnation award instituted by the State in the Probate Court of Tuscaloosa County. Following an order of condemnation of the property consisting of 4.44 acres, the probate court made an award to the owner. An appeal to the circuit court followed, with a jury trial and verdict for the owner in the amount of $83,500.25. The only issue submitted to the jury was the amount of compensation and damages that the owner was entitled to receive. The 4.44 acres taken was part of a tract of 44.29 acres used as a 9-hole golf course. This land was being acquired for the extension of U.S. Highway 82 By-Pass lying near the City limits of the City of Tuscaloosa.

The State filed a motion for new trial, which was overruled.

[361]*361There are 53 assignments of error. Not all are argued, but they have been arranged into 7 groups. We will consider them in the same order as arranged and argued in appellant’s brief.

GROUP I

(Assignments of Error 6 and 7)

These assignments assert error in the refusal of the court to grant the motion for new trial on account of the verdict being excessive. Appellant’s counsel, in their brief, indicate the necessity of these assignments in order to preserve for consideration rulings on admissibility of evidence.

Standing alone, these assignments do not show error. There was ample evidence of land value to support the jury award.

“ * * * where the trial court refuses to grant a new trial because he does not believe the verdict to be excessive, the favorable presumption attending the jury’s verdict is thereby strengthened. (Citations Omitted)” Vest v. Gay, 275 Ala. 286, 288, 154 So.2d 297, 298.

GROUP II .

(.Assignments of Error 11, 12, 13, and 14)

The substance of these assignments is that appellee was permitted to prove, on cross-examination of the State’s witness, Lavender, the following: (1) That the Bureau of Public Roads is a Federal Agency; (2) that, although the property is being condemned in the name of the State of Alabama, the project is actually a Federal project combined with the State; (3) that the number used on the highway is a Federal number; and (4) that when testimony refers to Federal, it means the United States of America with the Capital at Washington, D.C. Appellant contends this testimony was highly prejudicial and was only elicited to get before the jury that Federal funds would be used to pay a part of any award the jury might make to the landowner. The application for condemnation contains the following:

“The property and lands hereinafter described have been designated, selected and included by joint action of the Alabama State Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads, as a part of the National System of Interstate Highways * *

The witness had testified that he was a project engineer for the State Highway Department and originally worked up this project known as 82 By-Pass. Later, the witness answered a question, without objection as follows:

“That is handled through various groups in advance, in Montgomery. The Bureau of Public Roads, they give us a sketch.”

It appears that this was clearly within the recognized area of cross-examination and fully within the discretion of the trial court. There was no evidence of any kind that appellee’s counsel injected in this cause that the Federal Government would pay any part of the award.

We hold there was no error in the rulings of the trial court as contended in the assignments of error in this group.

GROUP III

(Assignments of Error 15, 16, 17, and 18)

Joseph E. Williams, a real estate businessman and expert on land values, called by the State, testified on direct examination that, in his opinion, the value of the whole tract (44.29 acres), immediately before the filing of the petition for condemnation, was $219,500.00; and that the value of the land remaining, after the taking of a part of it, was $256,000.00.

The State complains on this appeal that the trial court erred in allowing the landowner (appellee) to elicit from Joseph E. Williams, on cross-examination, that he, before arriving at his opinion of the before-the-taking value of $219,500.00 for the [362]*36244.29 acres, had checked to see what had been offered appellee for the 44.29 acres; that he had found that Mr. Lloyd Wood, shortly before the filing of the petition, had offered appellee $250,000.00 for the 44.29 acres; and that appellee had refused the offer.

The State contends that appellee’s elicitation of such testimony, on cross-examination of Joseph E. Williams, violated the rule which excludes evidence of offers of purchase made to a landowner for the purpose of proving the value of the land. Thornton v. City of Birmingham, 250 Ala. 651, 655, 35 So.2d 545, 7 A.L.R.2d 773; State v. Walker, 281 Ala. 182, 185, 200 So.2d 482; McElroy, the Law of Evidence in Alabama, 2d Ed., Vol. 1, § 85.02, page 233.

I We should here state that evidence of the offers of purchase held to be inadmissible, in the cases cited next above, was not ■offered on cross-examination of an expert ■on value called by the other side; but, on the contrary, was offered on the direct examination of the landowner’s witnesses for the purpose of showing the value of the land in suit; in particular, as tending to show that the value of the land was equal to the amount offered in the offers of purchase.

Directly related to the complained-of testimony elicited from Joseph E. Williams, as to the said offer of purchase, is further testimony by him, on cross-examination, that he did not think that Mr. Lloyd Wood offered too much money for the 44.29 acres.

We are of opinion that the trial court had the discretion to allow the said cross-examination of Joseph E. Williams for the purpose of testing the soundness of his opinion given on direct examination; although proof of the offer of purchase made by Mr. Lloyd Wood would not have been permissible for the purpose of showing the value of the land or that the land was worth the amount offered in Mr. Lloyd Wood’s offer of purchase. Annotation, 7 A.L.R.2d 781, 818, § 15; People v. La Macchia, 41 Cal.2d 738, 264 P.2d 15, 22; People ex rel Department of Public Works v. Union Machine Co., 133 Cal.App.2d 167, 284 P.2d 72, 75; Central Pacific R. Co. v. Pearson, 35 Cal. 247, 262; Spring Valley Water-Works v. Drinkhouse, 92 Cal. 528, 28 P. 681, 682; Lloyd v. Town of Venable, 168 N.C. 531, 84 S.E. 855, 857.

Supporting the view stated above, to a degree, is Town of Eutaw v. Botnick, 150 Ala. 429, 43 So. 739, an action in which the owner of land sued the city for damages for lowering the grade of the abutting sidewalk, and in which the owner testified on direct examiation that the land was worth $3,500.00 before the grade was lowered.

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Bluebook (online)
239 So. 2d 891, 286 Ala. 359, 1970 Ala. LEXIS 922, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-meadowbrook-inc-ala-1970.