Wilkinson v. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board

54 S.W.3d 1, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 310, 2001 WL 42264
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 17, 2001
Docket05-99-01028-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 54 S.W.3d 1 (Wilkinson v. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board) 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
Wilkinson v. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board, 54 S.W.3d 1, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 310, 2001 WL 42264 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

MORRIS, Justice.

Hundreds of current and former homeowners in Irving, Texas sued Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board, the City of Dallas, and the City of Fort Worth for damages. 2 Generally, they alleged their homes were “taken” and “damaged” by governmental actions in connection with a runway expansion project at Dallas/Fort Worth International Arport in violation of the Texas and United States Constitutions. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of D/FW on all of the homeowners’ claims. The homeowners appealed asserting the trial court *6 erred in granting summary judgment against them. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I.

The appeal before us involves four separate lawsuits that were consolidated by the trial court on the parties’ joint motion. Appellants in the Wilkinson lawsuit are or were homeowners in the Broadmoor Hills subdivision. 3 Appellants in the Baker lawsuit were homeowners in the Harrington Heights subdivision. 4 Some of the Harrington Heights homeowners voluntarily-sold their property to the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. The cities initiated eminent domain proceedings against the other Harrington Heights homeowners. Appellants in the Barkis lawsuit 5 as well as *7 those in the Vece lawsuit 6 are or were homeowners in northwest Irving.

II.

Appellants’ complaints are varied, hut generally arise out of three categories of activities related to the airport runway expansion: (1) D/FW’s pre-condemnation actions and policies, (2) demolition of condemned properties and runway construction activities, and (3) overflights from the use of the completed runway. Underlying appellants’ complaints are D/FW’s initial announcement to expand the runway without the consent of adjacent home rule cities, 7 its extended court battle with the cities that followed, and its later successful efforts in obtaining a legislative amendment to proceed with the planned expansion. 8 Appellants assert that, through these actions, D/FW effectively took control over the subject area by creating a five-year period during which the homeowners had great difficulty selling or obtaining financing for their homes. Appellants also complain about D/FW’s policies and decisions with respect to which homes would be condemned and the manner in which the demolition and construction proceeded. They assert D/FW made representations and promises it refused to keep with respect to which, and on what terms, homes would be condemned or included in what they described as the Runway Expansion Mitigation Program. Appellants also allege that during the period D/FW was seeking approval of the runway expansion project from the City of Irving or, alternatively, approval of the legislative amendment of the Texas Municipal Airport Act, D/FW pursued a sample mitigation program that resulted in a few homeowners being bought out at prices and *8 relocation benefits that were much higher than those later offered to other property owners in the area. They contend D/FW acted in bad faith and with deliberate indifference to appellants’ rights throughout the expansion. Lastly, they complain about the detrimental effects the use of the new runway has had on their property and persons.

According to their pleadings, all appellants seek damages for injuries caused by D/FW’s alleged representations that there would be no compensation for property improvements after the announcement of the runway expansion project, its alleged bad faith premature announcement and delay associated with the runway expansion project, its “bad faith disregard of promises, appellants’ rights under the law and applicable regulations,” and its “indifference to appellants’ rights of due process and fair dealing.” The Wilkinson, Vece, and Barkis appellants specifically seek damages for D/FW’s refusal to include their homes in the Runway Expansion Mitigation Program. These appellants also seek damages because of the use of the new runway, complaining flights over and adjacent to their homes cause noise, pollution, crash hazards, and disruption of their daily activities causing “economic, physical, and mental distress on these [appellants] and their properties.” The Wilkinson and Baker appellants seek additional damages for the piecemeal destruction of their neighborhoods as well as adjacent neighborhoods, the “protracted bombardment and invasion of their homes and persons by noise, dust, traffic (of heavy trucks and construction equipment), vibration, and dislocation of vermin caused by the demolition of condemned homes,” and injuries to their neighborhood park caused by the relocation of Valley View Lane. The Wilkinson appellants also seek compensation for injuries caused by the relocation of Valley View Lane, asserting the relocation created access difficulties and congestion to Carbon Road, the principal road into their subdivision. Finally, the Barkis appellants seek damages for D/FW’s alleged failure to offer some appellants the same compensation offered to those in the sample mitigation program.

In the trial court below, three homeowner couples whose claims the parties considered to be representative of all other appellants were selected as test cases. 9 Discovery on the test cases proceeded while the remaining homeowners’ claims were abated. D/FW later moved for summary judgment on each of the test cases, generally asserting: (1) appellants failed to allege a cause of action under either state or federal law; (2) appellants’ state constitutional claims were precluded by the community damage principle; (3) appellants had no evidence of any injury that would be compensable as a taking under the state or federal constitution; (4) appellants’ federal claims were not ripe for adjudication; and (5) appellants who voluntarily sold their properties to the cities, or whose properties were the subject of an eminent domain proceeding, had waived or were estopped from pursuing their claims. 10

*11 The trial court granted D/FW summary judgment on the test cases without specifying the grounds relied on for its ruling. D/FW later moved for and was granted summary judgment against the remaining homeowners. 11 This appeal ensued.

Although there is a single appeal encompassing the four lawsuits, the parties have filed separate briefs for each underlying case. Because of the similarities among the pleadings and evidence involved, however, many of the issues and arguments are common to all appellants.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 S.W.3d 1, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 310, 2001 WL 42264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkinson-v-dallasfort-worth-international-airport-board-texapp-2001.