Texas Gas Transmission Corp. v. CM Thibodeaux Co.

148 So. 2d 337, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2686
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 14, 1962
Docket5685
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 148 So. 2d 337 (Texas Gas Transmission Corp. v. CM Thibodeaux Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas Gas Transmission Corp. v. CM Thibodeaux Co., 148 So. 2d 337, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2686 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

148 So.2d 337 (1962)

TEXAS GAS TRANSMISSION CORPORATION
v.
C. M. THIBODEAUX COMPANY, Ltd.

No. 5685.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 14, 1962.
Rehearing Denied January 18, 1963.

*338 Shotwell & Brown, by Burt W. Sperry, Monroe, Martin & Himel, by Lloyd R. Himel, Lutcher, for appellant.

Triche & Sternfels, by Emile R. Sternfels, Jr., Napoleonville, for appellee.

Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, HERGET, LANDRY and REID, JJ.

LANDRY, Judge.

The appeal in this expropriation proceeding is by plaintiff, Texas Gas Transmission Corporation, who herein complains of the monetary damages awarded defendant property owner in compensation for a right of way required by plaintiff-appellant over three certain tracts of swamp lands owned by defendant-appellee and situated in Assumption Parish.

In the Court below judgment was rendered in favor of defendant in the sum of $2,997.00, representing the market value of 2.997 acres lying within plaintiff's required servitude, and in addition thereto the sums of $3,780.00, $120.00 and $5,080.00 as severance damages to Tracts Numbers One, Two and Three, respectively.

For the construction of the proposed pipe line, plaintiff herein requires a construction right of way extending fifty feet in width and a permanent right of way (servitude only) thirty feet wide. Said proposed pipe line crosses certain properties owned by defendant and situated on the East bank of Bayou Boeuf approximately 9 miles from the City of Morgan City. Defendant's said properties have a front of several thousand feet on the aforesaid Bayou Boeuf by a depth of several thousand feet, its location being on an alternate route of the Intracoastal Canal.

It is undisputed that the frontage along the East bank of Bayou Boeuf is "high ground" from which the land runs back into low ground or "swamp" which swamp area commences approximately 2,000 feet east of the East Bank of Bayou Boeuf on which the lands front. Plaintiff's pipe line right of way intersects the property on a tangent in that it enters the northern boundary thereof some 2500-3000 feet east of Bayou Boeuf and exits therefrom, at a point on the southern boundary thereof approximately *339 6000 feet east of the said bayou. The parties concede that the right of way crosses the swamp only.

It is settled law in this state that in an expropriation proceeding the measure of damages is the market value of the land taken—that is the price which would be agreed upon at a voluntary sale between an informed and willing seller and an informed and willing purchaser under ordinary circumstances.

In addition to market value of lands taken the owner is entitled to compensation for damages to his remaining lands, if any, caused by the taking, such latter damages being denominated severance damages. Louisiana Highway Commission v. Guidry, 176 La. 389, 146 So. 1, Texas Pipe Line Co. v. Barbe, 229 La. 191, 85 So. 2d 260. The measure of severance damages is the difference between the value of the property immediately before and its value immediately after the expropriation. Harrison v. Louisiana Highway Commission, 191 La. 839, 186 So. 354; Texas Pipe Line Co. v. Barbe, supra. Severance damages are recoverable only when they are reasonably prospective. They are not recoverable when they are merely anticipated or so remotely prospective as to be characterized as speculative in nature. Louisiana Highway Commission v. Lasseigne, 177 La. 440, 148 So. 672.

The parties concede that in determining market value the best and highest use of the expropriated property determines its market value. It is with regard to this principle that the present controversy rages. Defendant maintains the best and highest use of its said properties is industrial whereas plaintiff contends the lands are swamp and best suited for growing timber.

The record shows that subject properties are situated on the East bank of that segment of Bayou Boeuf forming the alternate route of the inland waterway system known as the Intracoastal Canal and more particularly, at a point thereon approximately nine miles north of Morgan City. It likewise appears that extending northerly from Morgan City the banks of the waterways forming both the main and alternate routes of the Intracoastal Canal have become heavily industrialized. That there is some congestion in the immediate vicinity of Morgan City is not disputed. In the main, the industries appear to consist of concerns engaged in off-shore drilling operations, furnishers of materials and supplies used in such undertakings and related marine activities. The nearest industrial development to defendant's property is situated on the west bank of Bayou Boeuf approximately one and one-half miles south of defendant's property and consists of an industrial site measuring 100 feet front along Bayou Boeuf. There is no industrial development on Bayou Boeuf north of defendant's lands.

Roland Laws, Surveyor, testifying on behalf of plaintiff, stated he walked the entire right of way in the month of August accompanied by plaintiff's expert appraiser, Blouin. It was Laws' function to cruise the timber situated within the right of way and he found growing therein sparse stands of cypress and tupelo gum. He detected no drainage canals in the swamp and at the time of his inspection the land was largely under water, to knee depth in some places. Laws noted no high land whatsoever within the right of way and he considered the timber thereon insufficient to justify logging operations.

Plaintiff's appraiser, J. Louis Blouin, a graduate of Louisiana State University holding a B. S. Degree in Agriculture, engaged as a realtor for some 14 years, stated that he walked the right of way with Laws and found substantially the same condition related by his said associate. Blouin stated that in view of the remoteness of the land from the bayou bank, its swampy nature and lack of drainage, he considered its best and highest use to be for purposes of growing timber. He appraised the swamp land at $50.00 per acre for fee title and $25.00 per acre in the event of the taking of a servitude only. Blouin considered that in *340 view of the nature of the land there would be no severance damages to defendant's remaining properties.

Defendant's witness, Ned Russo, stated that he has been engaged in the real estate business part time for a period of approximately two years in conjunction with an insurance agency which he also operates. Admittedly his experience with large tracts of lands has been extremely limited. He is a resident of Morgan City (St. Mary Parish) and has never handled a sale of large acreage in Assumption Parish wherein subject properties are situated. Because the property fronts on an alternate route of the Intracoastal Canal and its entire frontage is sufficiently high to permit industrial development thereon, he considered the best and highest use of the entire tracts to be industrial. Without attempting to place a separate value on the high land along the bayou as distinguished from the swamp lands in the rear, he appraised the entire tract at $2,000.00 per acre. Russo's appraisal was predicated upon certain comparables or sales of what he considered similar properties in the same general vicinity some of which were much nearer the City of Morgan City than subject properties.

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Bluebook (online)
148 So. 2d 337, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-gas-transmission-corp-v-cm-thibodeaux-co-lactapp-1962.