Case Title: Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Wagley

Citation: 231 So. 2d 507

Docket Number: 

State: mississippi

Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Date: 1970-02-09T00:00:00Z

Document:
231 So. 2d 507 (1970) MISSISSIPPI STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION v. Mrs. Cynthla J. WAGLEY. No. 45583. Supreme Court of Mississippi. February 9, 1970. Robert G. Nichols, Jr., Jackson, for appellant. Barnett, Montgomery, McClintock & Cunningham, Jackson, for appellee. INZER, Justice: This is an appeal by Mississippi State Highway Commission from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County awarding appellee, Mrs. Cynthia J. Wagley, $25,000 for the taking of .13 acres of her property for highway purposes. Prior to these proceedings appellee was the owner of a tract of land in the City of Jackson located east of Terry Road, a main artery which runs in a north-south direction through the southern part of the City. It had a frontage of 125.6 feet on Terry Road and extended east for a distance of 234 feet. The property was unimproved and it was zoned as residential. On April 28, 1964, the commission filed condemnation proceedings in the County Court of Hinds County to condemn a strip on the west end of this property. The property condemned is in an irregular shape, being 125.6 feet east and west along the road and extending 46 feet east along the south boundary and 67.7 feet east along the north boundary. The commission also took the right of access to the remaining land over the north 69.8 feet along the highway, leaving access to the remaining land over 55.8 feet on the south end. A trial was had in the county court and the jury fixed appellee's damages at $5,500. The landowner appealed to the circuit court and that court reversed the judgment of the county court and ordered a new trial in circuit court as provided by law. The trial in circuit court resulted in a *508 judgment in favor of appellee for $25,000, hence this appeal. Appellant's assignments of error are as follows: The circuit court held that the evidence clearly established that although the property taken was zoned residential it should have been zoned commercial and that the verdict of the county court jury was so low as to be nearly confiscatory. The court concluded that the county court was in error in refusing to grant the landowner a new trial. The commission contends that the circuit court was in error because it did not say that the verdict of the jury in the county court was so low as to evidence bias, passion and prejudice on the part of the jury or was so grossly inadequate as to shock the enlightened conscience of the court. However, we gather from what the court did say that the verdict of the jury was so low that it was shocking to the enlightened conscience of that court. After a careful review of the evidence we cannot say that the circuit court was in error in reversing the judgment of the county court and granting a new trial. The evidence in regard to appellee's damages was substantially the same in the county court and circuit court. The only witness for the commission who testified as to the value of the property taken and the resulting damage was T.L. Carraway, Jr., a qualified real estate appraiser. He fixed the value of the entire tract immediately prior to the taking at $7,500 and its value after the taking at $3,375. Mr. Carraway valued the property as residential and did not consider that its highest and best use was commercial. He gave as his reason for doing so the fact that it was zoned residential and only four years before the City Commission had denied an application by appellee to rezone the property commercial, and in his opinion a zoning change could not be expected in the near future. Mr. J.H. Wells, a qualified real estate appraiser, testified for the landowner that in his opinion the highest and best use of the land immediately before the taking was for commercial purposes. It was his opinion that the fair market value of the property immediately before the taking was $30,000 and after the taking its value would be only $5,000, or a difference of $25,000. He stated that although the property was zoned residential, its highest and best use was commercial and he thought the zoning was subject to change. Mr. Morris Williams, a qualified real estate appraiser, testified for appellee that the value of the property prior to the taking was $31,000 and its value after the taking was $7,000 or a damage of $24,000. He valued the property as commercial because that was its highest and best use. Mrs. Wagley testified that in her opinion prior to the taking the property was worth approximately $40,000. Two lay witnesses testified that in their opinion she had sustained damage to the extent of $35,000. Appellee urges that the large verdict in this case is not grossly excessive but is a just and equitable one. She insists that the jury found that the property was commercial property and in doing so it followed the rule announced in Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Brooks, 239 Miss. 308, 123 So. 2d 423 (1960), wherein we said: The difficulty in applying the rule in this case is that the property was zoned residential at the time of the taking and, of course, could not be used for commercial purposes until it had been rezoned. There was evidence tending to establish that there was a reasonable probability that it could be rezoned commercial in the near future, but even though this is true, the property could not be valued as if the rezoning had already been accomplished. There can be no doubt that the fact that the property was zoned residential affected its fair market value at the time of the taking. We said in Paulk v. Housing Authority of City of Tupelo, 204 So. 2d 153 (Miss. 1967): A good statement of the rule to be applied in cases such as this is found in Nichols on Eminent Domain, Market Value, section 12.322[1] (1962), wherein it is stated: What has happened in this case is that the appraiser for the commission valued the property as residential because it was zoned residential and did not give any consideration to the fact that the highest and best use of the property was for commercial purposes. On the other hand the witnesses for the appellee apparently valued the property as though it had already been rezoned commercial. Under these circumstances and after taking into consideration *510 all the evidence and the amount, character, location, and zoning of the land, we are of the opinion that the verdict of the jury in this case is so large that it is shocking to the enlightened conscience of this Court and we cannot allow it to stand. For the reason stated the judgment of the circuit court is reversed and the case remanded for a new trial on the issue of damages unless within ten days from the date the judgment of this Court becomes final appellee accepts a remittitur of $10,000, thus reducing the award to $15,000. In the event such remittitur is entered the judgment of the circuit court will be affirmed as modified, otherwise, it is reversed and remanded. Reversed and remanded unless specified remittitur is entered. ETHRIDGE, C.J., and JONES, BRADY, and ROBERTSON, JJ., concur.