Case Name: Virginia Electric and Power Company v. Bettie Pauline Poland Pickett, Et Al.
Court: Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia
Jurisdiction: Virginia
Decision Date: 1955-09-14
Citations: 197 Va. 269
Docket Number: Record No. 4392
Parties: Virginia Electric and Power Company v. Bettie Pauline Poland Pickett, Et Al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Virginia Reports
Volume: 197
Pages: 269–290

Head Matter:
Staunton
Virginia Electric and Power Company v. Bettie Pauline Poland Pickett, Et Al.
September 14, 1955.
Record No. 4392.
Present, Eggleston, Spratley, Buchanan, Miller, Smith and Whittle, JJ.
The opinion states the case.
Hunton, Williams, Gay, Moore & Powell; Ralph H. Ferrell, Jr. and E. Milton Farley, III, for the appellant.
Stilson H. Hall and Carleton Penn, II., for the appellees.

Opinion:
Buchanan, J.,
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a condemnation case in which the condemner, Virginia Electric and Power Company, claims that the commissioners awarded the landowners excessive damages and that the trial court erred in refusing to set aside their report.
Two tracts of land are involved, one referred to as the Poland tract and the other as the Latham tract, located mostly in Loudoun county but partly in Prince William county.
Over each the Company takes a 100-foot right of way or perpetual easement on which to construct, operate and maintain its pole and tower lines for transmitting electricity, together with the right of ingress and egress to and from said right of way over any existing roads and if none reasonably convenient then over the property of the owners by such ways as reasonably convenient in order to construct and maintain the electric lines and their appurtenances, and other rights incident to these purposes, the Company to be liable for all damages resulting from the exercise of its rights of ingress and egress.
The Poland tract is said to contain 782 acres, bounded on the east by State Highway No. 705 and on the south by No. 701, with an additional tract said to be about 75 acres lying along the south side of No. 701. The 100-foot right of way extends across the 782-acre tract for a distance of 7,758.2 feet and contains 17.81 acres. For this the commissioners allowed $3,900, or $219.97 an acre, for the land taken, and $7,380 for damages to the residue, a total of $11,280.
The Latham tract according to the record contains about 185.49 acres. It is divided into two parcels by U. S. Highway No. 15 which runs north and south, the parcel east of the highway, 120 A, being the larger. The 100-foot right of way runs diagonally across parcel 120 A and the northeastern corner of 120 B for a total distance of 3,046.5 feet and includes 7.01 acres. For the land taken the commissioners allowed $2,100, or $299.57 an acre, and for damages to the residue $4,900, a total of $7,000.
The Company under its assignments of error contends that the commissioners disregarded the court's instructions and proceeded upon erroneous principles; and that their awards are so grossly excessive as to show prejudice.
In accordance with the statute, Code § 25-12, five disinterested freeholders were appointed as commissioners, all of whom served and signed the report. They were given written instructions, to which there was no objection, fully explaining their duties and telling them, among other things, that they should determine the fair market value of the land taken, and what that meant, together with the damages to the residue, if any, based on the difference between the market value of the same at the time of the taking of the right of way and its market value after the taking. They viewed the premises, heard the testimony of witnesses for both sides and made their report. The Company argues that the only competent and credible opinion evidence was given by its witnesses and that when the awards are measured by their testimony and by comparable sales, they cannot be justified. This requires an analysis of the evidence.
The Polands introduced seven witnesses who may be described and their testimony stated as follows:
Hutchinson, a farmer, had known the Poland land for forty years. He had read the condemner's petition and had been over the land within the week. The right of way went through four fields, highly productive and the best of the Poland farm. He was familiar with land sales in that locality and had made two appraisements for one of the banks in the county. He valued the 17.81 acres at $5,100 or approximately $300 an acre, and was of opinion that the residue of the farm would be worth $6,000 less after the construction of the transmission line, a total of $11,100.
Gossom, a dairy farmer, was owner of a 400-acre farm two miles from the Poland farm on which he had lived over thirty years. He was familiar with the value of land in that locality, knew of other property that had been sold and what people were asking for it. He thought the land in the right of way was worth $250 an acre; that the difference in the selling price of the residue before and after the power line was built would be about $5,400; that when you cut a big field in two you naturally damage its value; that there were four fields that would be so cut up which were "the prime of the farm"; that such a right of way constitutes a nuisance because it has to be worked around every time you cultivate the land or harvest the crop. "It is there to be reckoned with every time you come along." He placed the total for the land taken and damage to the residue at $9,852.50.
Cox was a farmer, owning a farm about a mile from the Poland place, and had been the county farm agent for Prince William county for twenty-five years. He was familiar with land values and had seen farms sold in that community and knew about their productivity. He had ridden over the whole Poland farm about two weeks before. He thought the whole farm would bring $175 an acre. He valued the land taken, which he considered the best of the farm, at $250 an acre and estimated the damage to the residue at $5,500, as a conservative figure, a total of $9,952.50.
Smith owned a farm about four miles from the Poland farm, had lived in that community all his life and was familiar with the Poland land. He knew of properties around there that had been sold and was familiar with land values in that area. He thought the Poland farm north of No. 701 would be worth as a whole $20.0 an acre and "I figured the damages for the land would add about $300 more to that." He thought the total for the land taken and damage to the residue would be $500 an acre for the 17.81 acres, or $8,905. He also said that he thought the right of way would reduce by $50 an acre the value of the remainder which he thought comprised 822 acres, but it is uncertain from his evidence what he meant in that respect.
McCanless had hunted on the land and built roads on it. In 1950 he had offered to buy the farm for $125 an acre and at that time had walked all over it. He had owned a farm six of seven miles from the Poland place and sold it in 1944. He had appraised some five properties for a Middleburg bank within the last year and knew what people were asking for land in the community of the Poland farm. He thought the Poland land was worth $125 an acre, that the easement for the power line would depreciate the value of the residue ten per cent, and that for the land in the easement he "would want" $400 an acre. His figures were $7,124 for the land taken and $9,552.38 for the damages to the residue, a total of $16,676.38.
Jenkins was cashier of a Leesburg bank and a farmer. He occasionally valued property for loan purposes for the bank and its customers and felt that he knew land values in Loudoun county fairly well. He knew the Poland land and had been on it the previous day. He thought the land in the right of way was worth about $300 an acre, "coming out of the middle of the field like this." He was of opinion that the difference in the fair market value of the farm before and after the taking was $10,800. He testified that "with a hundred-foot right of way across the center of the farm, when you try to farm it you have something in your way there forever, as long as you live, as well as danger to stock, danger to the people leaving the gates open and any number of things that make it a very objectionable thing when buying the property." His total was $16,143.
Poland, one of the owners, testified that the farm was productive and was then carrying 300 head of cattle. He thought the land in the right of way was worth $300 an acre and that the taking would reduce the value of the residue by fifteen per cent, making a total of $21,400.
The Company's witnesses before the commission were three real estate agents. The first, James, testified he had been in the real estate business twenty-two years and was familiar with the value of lands adjacent to the Poland farm. He and the other two walked over the right of way through the Poland property. He divided the right of way into three parts, valued 8 acres at $200 an acre, 6.31 acres at $100 an acre and 3.5 acres at $50 an acre. This, with ten trees outside of the right of way at $15 each, added up to $2,406 for the land taken. He then valued the residue, which he said was 752.5 acres, at $85 an acre, amounting to $62,220 (sic), and depreciated that five per cent to get $3,111 as damage to the residue for a total of $5,677 (sic).
The other two witnesses, Wolford, who had been in the real estate business ten years, and Riddle, who had been similarly engaged for eight years, followed the same general plan for valuing the 17.81 acres except they divided it into a greater number of parcels and valued the first parcel of 6.5 acres at $250 an acre and the other parcels at varying amounts down to $100 an acre. They differed from James, however, in their method of calculating damage to the residue. They took a strip 100 feet wide on each side of the right of way and divided that into parcels corresponding to their division of the right of way. Wolford depreciated some of the parcels in the two strips at ten per cent, some at fifteen per cent and one not at all. Riddle depreciated all of them at twenty per cent of the values assigned to the different parcels in the right of way. Wolford arrived at a value of $3,087.50 for the land taken and $755 for the residue, a total of $3,842.50. Riddle placed the value of the land taken at $3,119.25 and damage to the residue at $993.65, a total of $4,112.
James testified that in estimating values he considered what he thought were comparable sales in the neighborhood, No. 1 made in 1952 at $133 an acre, No. 2 made in 1944 at $135 an acre and No. 3 in 1944 at $32.50 an acre. He said these were about the same quality of land as the Poland land but not in as good condition. Wolford did not think No. 3 was as good as the Poland land, some of which he said "is awful good land". He thought some of No. 1 was not as good as the Poland farm and some of it was, but he did not know about No. 2. Riddle thought No. 1 was "very comparable" to the Poland farm. James later testified before the court and commissioners to a sale of land across Highway No. 705 from the Poland land made in 1946 at $51.16 an acre, but he did not express any opinion as to whether the land involved was comparable to the Poland tract.
The same three witnesses testified that they applied the same methods in arriving at the value of 7.01 acres of the right of way through the Latham land and in fixing damages to the residue. James fixed the compensation for the land taken at $1,400 and damage to the residue $736, a total of $2,136. Wolford valued the land taken at $1,393.75 and damage to the residue at $351.88, a total of $1,745.63. Riddle appraised the land taken at $1,252 and the damage to the residue at $530.60, a total of $1,782.60.
The only evidence offered by the Latham owners was the testimony of Mrs. Latham that the property fronted on both sides of U. S. 15, she said for a quarter of a mile but the record shows about one-half mile, and that they had planned to locate a permanent home on the east side on the only highland available on the road frontage. There was evidence from a Company witness that a .300-acre tract in the same neighborhood had been sold at about $235 an acre but no date was given.
On. their view the commissioners could make comparison with the Poland tract and the evidence shows that the same procedures were followed and the same considerations applied with respect to the Latham tract as with the Poland tract.
As the Company states in its brief, the controlling principles with respect to setting aside awards of condemnation commissioners are not in dispute. The finding of the commissioners is entitled to great weight and is not to be disturbed except upon clear proof that it is based on erroneous principles or so grossly inadequate or excessive as to show prejudice or corruption. The commissioners may base their findings on facts obtained by their own view of the property not appearing in the record. Appalachian Elec. Power Co. v. Gorman, 191 Va. 344, 357-8, 61 S. E. (2d) 33, 40.
There is no evidence that the commissioners in the present case disregarded the court's instructions and proceeded on erroneous principles unless that is a necessary inference from the amount of the awards.
In the Poland case the amount fixed by the commissioners for the land within the right of way is substantially less than the value fixed by six witnesses for the owners and not greatly in excess of the value fixed by two of the Company's three witnesses. We cannot say that after going upon the land the commissioners acted unreasonably in adopting the view that this right of way running through four of the best fields of the farm should be valued as a whole rather than that it should be divided into small parcels and different values assigned to different parcels.
The main difference between the witnesses on the one side and those on the other lies in their opinions as to the damage to the residue of the farm. It does not appear as a matter of law that the witnesses for the Company were more competent or reliable than were those for the landowners to speak on that point. It is to be observed that there was a material difference among the three witnesses for the Company as to the method of fixing the damage. James, the most experienced of the three, was of opinion that the whole farm was damaged and accordingly depreciated it on the basis of $85 an acre for 752.5 acres. If he had based the depreciation on the amount of $125 an acre, which the Polands had been offered only three years before, and on the correct acreage of 764, and had applied a depreciation rate half way between his estimate and that of the lowest witness for the Polands, he would have ar rived at an amount very close to that fixed by the commissioners. As it was, his result was about three times the amount fixed by the other two.
These other two witnesses limited their finding of damage to a 100-foot strip on each side of the right of way, although one of them stated "it does depreciate the farm to a certain extent, but I would not say that depreciation is too much." That method did not find favor with the one commissioner who testified. He said that it did not appeal to him as a logical method, but was arbitrary, and 500 or 1,000 feet could as well have been selected; that it seemed to him it was better to do as the commissioners did, walk over the property and view it and try to reach a reasonable conclusion.
Evidence as to other sales is admissible if they are close enough in time and on a free and open market so as to permit a just comparison. They may be misleading if made under such circumstances as not accurately to reflect the value of the property sold. 18 Am. Jur., Eminent Domain, § 351, p. 994; 6 Mich. Jur., Idem. § 88, p. 776; Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Chamblin, 108 Va. 42, 45, 60 S. E. 727, 729; Annotation, 118 A. L. R. 698. The difference in time, the variant prices and the undisclosed circumstances of the sales offered for comparison in the present case do not allow them sufficient weight to establish that the awards in controversy were grossly excessive.
Among the instructions given without objection, and conceded by the Company to be correct, was one which told the commissioners that they were not bound by the opinion of experts or by the apparent weight of the evidence but could give their own conclusions based upon their view of the land. See Barnes v. Tidewater Railway Co., 107 Va. 263, 267, 58 S. E. 594, 596; Kornegay v. City of Richmond, 185 Va. 1013, 1024, 41 S. E. (2d) 45, 50; Appalachian Elec. Power Co. v. Gorman, supra.
That rule is not to be considered as turning commissioners loose to take arbitrary or capricious action and return awards not related to the value of the property. Their awards are to be measured by the evidence and if the evidence clearly shows them to be unreasonable they should be set aside. In this case there was substantial evidence from apparently qualified sources to support the awards and when to that fact is added the information gained by the commissioners from their view, their awards, confirmed as they have been by the trial court, cannot fairly be said to be so grossly excessive as to show prejudice.
The Company further contends that the awards should be set aside because they were quotient awards; i.e., that the commismioners agreed in advance to add their separate figures, divide the total by the number of commissioners and report the result to their award.
The invalidity of a quotient award, like that of a quotient verdict, results not from the use of that method but from the previous agreement to be bound by the result whatever it might be and without any subsequent consideration. If the method is adopted merely for the sake of arriving at a reasonable measure of damages, and if after the amount is ascertained, the commissioners deliberately agree to and adopt it as being fair and just, it is not objectionable. Virginia Elec, and Power Co. v. Marks, 195 Va. 468, 78 S. E. (2d) 677, 39 A. L. R. (2d) 1201; Miller v. Blue Ridge Transp. Co., 123 W. Va. 428, 15 S. E. (2d) 400; 89 C. J. S., Trial, § 472, p. 113; Annotations, 52 A. L. R. at 44, 20 A. L. R. (2d) at 958.
The only evidence as to the procedure of the commissioners was given by one of them, called by the Company to testify and referred to in its brief as chairman of the commission. He said that the commissioners discussed the testimony of the witnesses for some time among themselves and a suggestion was made that each commissioner write down his opinion as to the amounts for the land taken and the damage to the residue, "average them up and that would be it;" that while none of the commissioners had the same answer, there was not a wide difference between the high and the low. He said that on a controversial issue it was hardly to be expected that five men would come up with identical figures, and in order to resolve the variation they used that method of averaging and rounding them out; that had there been a very wide variation, "or if we had felt that our own opinion was out of line with the average, I am sure that the matter would have been raised and we would have discussed the matter at even greater length, but there was not, and so we arrived at this composite figure which we all agreed to."
He testified that he tried to give weight to all he heard in the testimony, and that they saw on their view of the property a number of things not mentioned in the testimony, or in the hearing, and that he read some things on the blueprints that had not been men tioned. Under questioning by the court he said that he considered the awards to be fair and impartial; that if one of the commissioners had put down a figure that would have brought the awards way up he would not have agreed to it, and he pointed out that their findings were well within the range of the values shown in the evidence.
Some expressions in the testimony of this witness, if considered separately from their context, may be used to support the argument that there were quotient awards in the objectionable sense of involving an agreement to be bound by the result. Considered as a whole his testimony refutes that contention and demonstrates that the awards reflect the considered judgment of the commissioners, and not a result determined by lot. This is emphasized by this testimony of the witness in addition to that quoted in the dissenting opinion:
"Q. And the testimony of the witnesses, including the witnesses for the Power Company and the witnesses for the Poland heirs as to those two factors [land taken and damage to residue] is what you Commissioners based your award on, is that right?
"A. Including our own opinions as the result of viewing the property."
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"Q. Mr. Brown, you officially signed an award for $3900 compensation for the 17.81 acres of land. Was that the valuation that you placed on the 17.81 acres of land when you brought your award back into the clerk of the Court that evening?
"A. I agreed to that figure.
"Q. Is that also true of the $7,380 item of damages?
"A. That is right."
#
"Q. Might I ask Mr. Brown whether the figure set out for the Latham property were concurred in by you as your valuation is in the value of the land, the damages to the residue and the total?
"A. Yes."
#*###
"We used our judgment. We were so instructed by the Court, as well as the evidence that was presented. I do not know how to answer it any differently than that."
His testimony in its entirety satisfactorily establishes that the method employed did not involve subordinating the opinions of the commissioners to the "fall of the dice," but resulted in awards which represented their reasoned judgment.
The orders appealed from are accordingly
Affirmed.
Eggleston, Spratley and Whittle, JJ., concurring.
Miller, J., dissenting.
Smith, J., dissenting in part.