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Watters v. Platt

184 Iowa 203
Supreme Court of Iowa·Decided September 17, 1918·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Gaynor, J.

This is a proceeding instituted by the township trustees, to condemn certain land to use as a cemetery. The plaintiff is the owner of a farm consisting of 220 acres. Defendants, as trustees, sought to condemn .91 of an acre of his land immediately adjoining an existing cemetery, to be used, when condemned, as a part of such existing cemetery. The record discloses that the trustees applied to the plaintiff to purchase this land for the purpose of extending their cemetery; that a controversy arose as to the price that should be paid for the land. Thereupon, the plaintiff, on November 17, 1915, advertised that he would sell lots for burial purposes within the limits of the tract sought to be condemned, and the next day stated out lots, 20 by 10 feet, 119 in all, and immediately entered into some sort of arrangement with the tenant on his farm and two of his nephews to purchase lots in the proposed cemetery at $10 a lot. On the 18th of November, the trustees applied for the appointment of freeholders to assess the damages which plaintiff would sustain by the appropriation of the tract for cemetery purposes, and' commissioners were appointed on the 19th of November. The plaintiff testifies:

[205] “I did not plat the land, or advertise it, or sell any lots, or make any move looking to the nse of this piece of ground for cemetery purposes, until after the township trustees came to me to buy it for cemetery purposes.”

Thereafter, under the instructions of his attorney, the plaintiff made the following plat of the land, including the original cemetery:

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Watters v. Platt, 184 Iowa 203 (iowa 1918).

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