Texas Pipe Line Co. v. Hunt

222 S.W.2d 128, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2008
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 10, 1949
DocketNo. 14008
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 222 S.W.2d 128 (Texas Pipe Line Co. v. Hunt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas Pipe Line Co. v. Hunt, 222 S.W.2d 128, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2008 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

CRAMER, Justice.

The evidence in this case, although voluminous, is not difficult or involved. Appellant sought to condemn for pipe line purposes a strip of land 35 feet wide (17½ feet on each side of a center line, equaling 1.342 acres). When the case regularly reached the county court for trial the jury, under instruction and issues (the form and substance of which are not complained of on this appeal), returned as their verdict*the following answers to' special issues:

(1) “What do you find from a preponderance of the evidence was the reasonable market value of the 1.342-acre strip of land' covered by the right-of-way or easement involved herein, immediately prior to the taking of said easement?” Answer “$1073.60.” (2) “What do you find from a preponderance of the evidence was the reasonable market value of the 1.342-acre strip of land covered by the right-of-way or easement involved herein, immediately after the taking of said easement?” Answer “0.00 — No value.” (3) “What do you find from a preponderance of the evidence was the reasonable market value of the 185 acres in the James McLaughlin Survey in evidence herein, exclusive of the 1.342-acre strip of land covered by the easement, and the 55 acres out of the Archer Survey adjoining the McLaughlin Survey, immediately before the taking of the easement involved herein?” Answer. “180,000.” (4) “What do you find from a preponderance of the evidence was the reasonable market value of the 185 acres in the James McLaughlin Survey in evidence herein, exclusive of the 1.342-acre strip of land covered by the easement, and the 55 acres out of the Archer Survey, adjoining the McLaughlin Survey, immediately after the taking of the easement. involved herein ?” Answer “$165,000.”

Appellant assigns eleven points of error, in substance as follows: (1) The acquisition of the easement over and across the 35-foot strip of land for the construction of a pipe line did not constitute such a taking as to entitle appellees to recover as damages the full reasonable market value of the strip of land at the time the easement was acquired; (2) the jury’s finding to issue No. 2 of no value to the strip of land after the taking of the right-of-way or easement is without any evidence to support it; (3) the jury’s answer to issue No. 2 is contrary to the great weight and overwhelming preponderance of the evidence; (4) the location of said pipe line on the 35-foot ■ strip of land neither caused any damage to nor interfered with appellees’ legal rights, use, or enjoyment of the remainder of the land and the court erred in submitting to the jury issues 3 and 4 as to such damage; (5) that the jury’s answer to issue 4 is without support in the evidence and (6) is against the great weight and overwhelming preponderance of the evidence; (7) error in submitting the 55 acres of land in the Archer Survey .adjoining the McLaughlin Survey in issues 3 and 4 over appellants’ objections; (8) the verdict is so palpably and manifestly excessive as to shock the sense of justice; (9) excluding the testimony of R. H. Gamble relating to the acquisition of another and different pipe line by the Humble Pipe Line Corppany over another part of the land involved; (10) excluding evidence of the witness Gamble relating to the name of an industrial concern negotiating with him for the purchase of a part of the land involved in this suit; and (11) failure of the trial court to grant a new trial, the jury having improperly considered the proper elements of damage in answering the issues (a) that the pipe line easement isolated and segregated the remainder of appellees’ land, [130]*130(b) that the owners of the land would be unable to have ingress and egress over and across plaintiff’s pipe line to the railroad, and (c) that (lie railroad would be unable to lay tracks over and across plaintiffs pipe line.

The first three assignments pertain to issues 1 and 2 and will be considered together. The evidence on such issues was highly controverted as to values. Appellant’s witnesses, Roy Eastus, John R. Coon and Luther E. Wilson, testified as to reasonable cash market value of appellees’ land (for any purpose) before the easement was taken, to a high of $500 per acre; after the easement was taken, to a high of $350 per acre.

- Appellees’ witnesses, J. W. (Pat) Murphy, Arthur L. Wolf and R. IT. Gamble, valued the land before the easement was taken up to $5,000 per acre; and parts of it, afterward, as óf no value at all for industrial property. All the witnesses, on both sides, are men of large experience in the real estate field and are all worthy of belief. Their testimony as expert witnesses, of course, was their “expert opinion” as to values. Each gave his opinion as he believed the values to be, and in detail gave the jury the facts upon which he based that opinion. The jury answered issue No. 1 under proper instructions and definitions of the court. However, it is obvious from jury answers to issues 1 and 2 that they considered, in answering special issue No. 2, the value of such strip of land only as business or industrial property, and did not take into consideration that it could have a value as a farm, dairy, or for some other purpose. We do not consider, however, that the case should be reversed and remanded for this eror. It can be cured by remittitur. The jury was entitled to consider, in connection with market value, in special issue No. 1, evidence showing its most favorable use before the pipe line easement was- taken. In answering issue No. 2, in finding the market value, the jury should have corw-sidéred its most valuable use after the taking. The. highest market value of this land testified to by any witness for appellant, as farm land or for any other use (after the casement was taken)', was $350 per acre, or $469.70 for the 1.342 acres. We are of the opinion that if the appellant is credited with $469.70, making the recovery for the difference in the value of the 1.342-acre strip of land before and after the easement was taken, to wit, $872.30, such error would be cured.

We are not unmindful of the holding in the case of Texas Electric Service Co. v. Perkins, Tex.Com.App., 23 S.W.2d 320. Under the evidence in that case the holding was, no doubt, correct.

In this case the jury found a difference of less than 10% in the market value of the land outside the strip on which the easement was taken, while they found the market value of the strip on which the easement was taken to have been 100% destroyed.

A careful reading of this record discloses that the matters considered in arriving at the answers to issues 1 and 2 in no way affected the jury in their consideration of, or their findings to, special issues 3 and 4.

It also appears from the record that all elements of damage considered by the jury were proper elements for their consideration. Gulf Coast Irr. Co. v. Gary, 118 Tex. 469, 14 S.W.2d 266, at page 271, the Commission of Appeals, opinion approved by Supreme Court, holds: “ * * * when the whole of the tract is not taken, that the kind and character of easement condemned, and the manner in which the rights of the condemnor are to be exercised and maintained, and the rights and privileges left in the owner, may properly be taken into consideration in assessing the damages. St. Louis, K. & N. W. Ry. Co. v. Clark, 121 Mo. 169, 25 S.W. 192, 26 L.R.A. 751. See, also, annotations in 26 L.R.A. supra. * * * Cureton, C. J.

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Anderson v. Teco Pipeline Co.
985 S.W.2d 559 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
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251 S.W.2d 221 (Texas Supreme Court, 1952)
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245 S.W.2d 727 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1951)
Texas Pipe Line Co. v. Hunt
228 S.W.2d 151 (Texas Supreme Court, 1950)

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Bluebook (online)
222 S.W.2d 128, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-pipe-line-co-v-hunt-texapp-1949.