Title: Richert v. Board of Education of the City of Newton

State: kansas

Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court

Document:

177 Kan. 502 (1955)
280 P.2d 596
CARL J. RICHERT and IRENE RICHERT, Appellants,
v.
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF NEWTON, KANSAS, Appellee.
No. 39,609

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed March 5, 1955.
J. Rodney Stone, of Newton, argued the cause and was on the briefs for the appellants.
C. Fred Ice, of Newton, argued the cause, and Alden E. Branine, and Arthur N. Turner, both of Newton, were with him on the briefs for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
ROBB, J.:
This appeal was taken from the trial court's order sustaining appellee's demurrer to appellants' second amended petition for the reason that a cause of action was not stated.
Appellants' second amended petition substantially alleged:
Appellants have owned and maintained their home since February 19, 1937, on a tract of real estate which is 88.65 feet wide, north and south, by 135 feet long, east and west, in the southwest corner of block one of Wright's Addition to the city of Newton; at the same time appellee owned and maintained a school and school grounds on eight lots in the north half of block one of Wright's Addition to the city of Newton; on or about October 14, 1942, appellee acquired for school purposes an additional tract of real estate in block one of Wright's Addition to the city of Newton.
The second amended petition further alleged:
Appellee demurred to the second amended petition on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The questions raised by this appeal are (1) does the second amended petition state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and (2) is such a cause of action barred by the statute of limitations?
It is admitted that these appellants were not parties to nor was their property described in the condemnation proceedings. There is no question raised anywhere in the record or on oral argument as to the power of the school board of the city of Newton to acquire property by eminent domain or that the condemnation proceedings were not correct and proper. There was a small strip of appellants' land used by the school children while at play, but appellants make no claim based upon that particular trespass.
Appellants state that the general law of eminent domain, and the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States which reads, in part,
control since there is no provision in the constitution of Kansas pertaining to the taking of land through the power of eminent domain.
In the second amended petition appellants alleged that appellee *505 has taken appellants' property because all of block one in Wright's Addition to the city of Newton has been taken for school use except appellants' property, thereby surrounding appellants' property with public uses, the school on the north and east, South East Second street on the south, and Old Main street on the west. Through the action of appellee, appellants' property has been isolated, which resulted in the market value being decreased.
Kansas has not adopted any constitutional or statutory provisions whereby the condemnor under eminent domain must pay for property "taken or damaged" as has Illinois. With such a provision, the Illinois Supreme Court in the case of City of Winchester v. Ring, 312 Ill. 544, 144 N.E. 333, 36 A.L.R. 520, 522-524, said:
The general rule, which applies in the case under consideration, is stated as follows in the above opinion:
and the court in the same opinion later says:
In the case of Schuler v. Wilson, 322 Ill. 503, 153 N.E. 737, 48 A.L.R. 1027, 1030, none of Luella B. Wilson's land was taken, but she owned land occupied by herself and her husband as a residence immediately adjoining land used for school purposes. That court held there was no physical interference with her property and no direct physical disturbance of any right which she enjoyed in connection with her property and there were, therefore, no damages. Use of adjacent property as a school playground causing depreciation of the value of neighboring property is no justification for damages or assessment of damages in eminent *506 domain proceedings, which is the very thing appellants here are undertaking.
There is no question or contention of caprice, fraud, bad faith, or abuse of power or discretion on the part of the condemnor.
Appellants cite Sester v. Belvue Drainage District, 162 Kan. 1, 173 P.2d 619, which reads:
We note that the word "appropriated" is used instead of "taken." However, these words mean the same. (1 Bouvier's Law Dictionary, p. 223.) The law set out in the Sester case does not support appellants' theory. (See, also, Kan. Const., art. 12, § 4.)
Appellants next contend that the school has damaged their property in a different and special manner over and above other property in the community. They admit they were not damaged greater in kind so long as there were other residences between the school property and their home, and further admit the only damage to them then was in degree. However, they ignore the fact that immediately across the street in all directions from the *507 school there were residences which were affected and consequentially damaged by the expansion of the school to meet demands of a growing population and progress.
We cannot agree with appellants on this proposition. We must adhere to the rule stated in Mayfield v. Board of Education, 118 Kan. 138, 140, 233 Pac. 1024, wherein the school was sought to be established, while the school in the case at bar was expanding. In both cases the property of the parties was not included in the condemnation proceedings. There the court said, in substance, such damages are consequential damages, which are not covered by the constitution or statutes in Kansas, and that such damages being different in degree, but not in kind, cannot be recovered. (30 C.J.S., Eminent Domain, § 446, p. 184, 185; 18 Am. Jur., Eminent Domain, § 140, p. 767; Campbell v. United States, 266 U.S. 368, 69 L. Ed. 328, 45 S. Ct. 115.)
The trial court did not err in sustaining a demurrer to appellants' second amended petition because it failed to state a cause of action. It is not necessary to consider the question of the statute of limitations.
The judgment is affirmed.