Case Name: STATE of Louisiana through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. William W. BJORKGREN
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1962-11-09
Citations: 147 So. 2d 905
Docket Number: No. 5645
Parties: STATE of Louisiana through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. William W. BJORKGREN.
Judges: Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, HER-GET and LANDRY, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 147
Pages: 905–911

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. William W. BJORKGREN.
No. 5645.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana. First Circuit.
Nov. 9, 1962.
Rehearing Denied Dee. 14, 1962.
D. Ross Banister, Gen. Counsel, Dept, of Highways, and Jesse S. Moore, Jr., Asst, to Gen. Counsel, Baton Rouge, for appellant.
Edward B. Dufreche, Ponchatoula, for appellee.
Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, HER-GET and LANDRY, JJ.

Opinion:
HERGET, Judge.
This is an expropriation proceeding instituted by the State of Louisiana through the Department of Highways in December, 1957 condemning for highway purposes three parcels of land in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, comprising almost ten acres of land designated on a map attached to the petition as (1) Parcel 48 .007 acres; (2) Parcel 48-A .082 acres; and (3) Parcel 48-B 9.642 acres, taken from a larger tract owned by defendant, William W. Bjorkgren.
The Department deposited in the registry of the court $1,690 as its estimate of just compensation predicated upon the appraisal of the land and improvements at $1,690; damages: none; thus, $1,690 as the total estimate of just compensation. In his answer, Defendant averred the value of the land expropriated was $10,000 and further made claim for damages to the remaining property as follows:
"a. Relocation of barbed wire fence $500.00
"b. Relocation of Water Well & Water System for rental house 500.00
"c. Severance of the property of respondent (Highway is limited access through entire length of respondent's property.) ' 3,000.00
"TOTAL $4,000.00"
asserting a total claim of. $14,000 as representing the value of the land and damages sustained by him as a result of the taking.
From a judgment awarding Defendant the sum of $8,798.25 the Department appealed. Defendant, in his brief filed in this Court, prays for an increase in the award; however, as no answer to the appeal is noted in the record, such cannot be considered.
In support of his claim, counsel for Mr, Bjorkgren called as expert appraisers Mr. Polk Hebert and Mr. Thomas G. Womack, Sr. Mr. Hebert, in response to the question as to the improvements located on the property, answered: "None that I could tell." He placed a value on Parcel 48-B, containing 9.642 acres, of $8,300; Parcel 48-A, $500, and Parcel 48, $100. Though he expressed the view because the highway severed the property remaining to Defendant that certain damages would result therefrom, in response to a query for an estimate of the amount of such damages, answered: "I would have to make a study of it." He made no estimate of any damages resulting from the taking. He was of the opinion the land, although being farmed at the time of the taking, was not farm land; he did not value it on an acreage basis but in this particular case he used a "grid" to determine the useable part of the subject property that could be developed for homesites and though he referred to such method, no such grid was offered in connection with his testimony. Digressing from a discussion of his testimony for a moment, Mr. Carroll Trahan, Senior Right of Way Agent for the Department of Highways, testifying as an expert appraiser on behalf of the Department was of the opinion the subject property was best suited for farm land and affirmatively related at the time of the taking some portion of it was in a pine tree farm, the trees being approximately one foot high. Though Mr. Hebert stated his appraisal was based upon comparable sales in the area, the sales he referred to were of small lots, not comparable for valuation purposes of acreage such as here involved. He referred to what is noted in the evidence as the Berner sale, in 1955, of 3J4 acres located 1000 feet from the subject property, across the highway, for $200 per acre. Accepting this property as being comparable to the subject property, we cannot comprehend upon what theory he then would place a value of $800 per acre on the subject property.
Mr. Womack, the other expert called by Defendant, appraised the property as a whole, attributing thereto 9.73 acres, which he valued at $800 per acre and $500 for the loss of an artesian well on the property, making a total of $8,284. He arrived at the value of the well because, he related, Defendant had informed him the depth thereof and that he had paid $1 a foot for it. He did not measure the well himself and he observed: " you have to take the man's word for that." Though Mr. Womack testified he was definitely of the opinion damages would ensue to Defendant's remaining property because the highway severed it, he did not give any estimate of such damage. He was of the opinion the land being high and well drained was best suited for residential purposes, same being located near two paved highways the Springfield Road and the Wadesboro Road. He observed the surrounding area was becoming increasingly residential, but he offered no comparable sales as the basis of his appraisal, his opinion resting on his general knowledge of land values in the area.
As heretofore noted, Mr. Carroll Trahan was called as an expert appraiser by the Department. He divided Parcel 48-B into two portions: (1) a portion containing 5.-042 acres he valued at $125 per acre, same being low, swampy area near a canal traversing the property; (2) for the remaining 4.6 acres, which he described as the highest part of the land next to the Wades-boro Road, he placed a value of $200 per acre, making a total valuation of the 9.642 acres of $1,550. To arrive at his valuation he used as comparables a sale by Mr. Bjorkgren to Louisiana Power and Light Company and a sale by Jenny Jacobs to Cigard Goudeau. As to the Jacobs to Gou-deau sale, which was on the Springfield Road about 3 miles west of the subject property, which, in his opinion, was superior to that of the property of Mr. Bjork-gren, he placed a value of $250 for the land, less improvements. He referred to a sale from Cutrer to Staub, in 1953, for the sum of $100 per acre as a comparable utilized by him in arriving at his valuation of the subject' property. He valued Parcel 48-A, the .082 acres, at $250 an acre, attributing to the portion expropriated a value of $21. He valued Parcel 48, consisting of .007 acres of land, at $600 an acre, giving a value thereto of $4.20 which he recommended be fixed at $10.
The Department called as its other expert appraiser Mr. Max J. Derbes, Jr., who also divided Parcel 48-B into two portions, appraising the front portion consisting of 4.6 acres at $250 per acre and the rear 5.042 acres at $125 per acre. He attributed to Parcel 48 a valuation of $4.20 predicated on a basis of $600 per acre for .007 acres. Parcel 48-A he valued at $300 per acre and for the .082 he gave a value of $8.20. His total valuation of the land expropriated was $1,792.40 which he rounded out at $1,800. In arriving at his values Mr. Derbes was of the opinion Parcel 48-B, being about one quarter of a mile from the Springfield Road on the Wadesboro Road, was suitable for residential development and used as comparables the Berner sale referred to by Mr. Hebert at $200 per acre and a sale by Mr. Bjorkgren to Pea, in 1953, of six acres for $1,100. He referred also to the Ebrecht sale to Louisiana Power and Light Company, in 1954, of $600 per acre, but he was of the opinion the Ebrecht property being located on the Springfield Road was far superior in value to the subject property located on the Wadesboro Road.
Counsel for Mr. Bjorkgren, over the objection of counsel for the Department, offered the records in the suits entitled Louisiana Power and Light Company v. Peter Kraft, Sr.; Louisiana Power & Light Company v. Carl Drude, Sr.; Louisiana Department of Plighways v. Joseph E. Ebrecht, Jr.; and Louisiana Department of Highways v. Ebrecht, La.App., 135 So.2d 624, as evidence for the determination by the court of values in comparable locations with the subject property. The trial Court overruled the objection; however, no evidence was offered by counsel for Defendant to prove the comparability of the properties referred to.
In its written reasons for judgment the trial Court noted the subject property was close to the intersection of the Springfield Highway with the new Interstate Plighway or Hammond By-Pass as. well as the Wadesboro Road and, accordingly, was of the opinion the sale on the Springfield Road from Ebrecht to Louisiana Power and Light Company for $600' per acre should be considered as comparable in value to the subject property. The trial Court based the valuation of Defendant's property by resorting to the opinion in the ease of Louisiana Power & Light Company v. Tricou, La.App., 128 So.2d 24, introduced in evidence by Defendant over the objection by the Department, in which this Court accepted a value of $750 per acre for the Tricou property located west of the subject tract approximately half way between Pon-chatoula and Hammond on the Happy-woods Road. The Tricou property fronted one-half mile on the Springfield Road, whereas Parcel 48-B of the subject property has only a frontage of approximately 70 feet on the Wadesboro Road and 48-A only 20 feet frontage on the opposite side of the same road. The Department's objections to the use by the trial Court of the Tricou case to arrive at the evaluation of Defendant's property are: said property is not comparable as it is too far distant from the subject property and has a far greater frontage on the road. Though the Tricou sale was admissible in evidence and represents a judicial determination of the market value of the property therein involved, it is essential that testimony be placed in the record to prove the comparability of the two properties, for otherwise there is no evidence of the comparability by which the Court can fix the market value of the subject property.
With exception of the Berner sale for $200 per acre and the Ebrecht sale for $600 per acre, none of the other sales relied on appear to be comparables for they represent sales of small lots, improved properties, or sales which took place at remote times from the date of the present condemnation proceeding. Mr. Derbes, in his testimony, gave explanation of why there was such variance between the prices of the Berner and Ebrecht sales, relating the fact that the Berner property is located on the Wades-boro Road whereas the Ebrecht property is located on the Springfield Road, a much more traveled highway. We note, however, that Defendant's property, while fronting on the Wadesboro Road is only a short distance from the Springfield intersection. The Berner sale took place in 1955, whereas the present proceeding was filed in 1957 and, while in our opinion the properties are comparable, there is in evidence the testimony of Mr. Hebert to the effect that prices in the area involved had in some places doubled and in others tripled between the dates of 1955 and 1957. In making this observation, however, Mr. Hebert did not refer to any specific sale; nevertheless, because of his general knowledge of the values of real estate in the area, we are persuaded to accord his opinion in this respect great weight. Using the Ber-ner sale as truly comparable and giving consideration to the topography of Parcels 48-B and 48-A on the Wadesboro Road, some of which is high and some low, we are of the opinion the evidence justifies an award of $400 per acre for the 9.724 acres or $3,889.60. Parcel 48 containing .007 acres, though impracticable to value on a per acreage basis, in view of the fact it is located at the junction of a long, narrow strip of land reserved by Defendant as a servitude for the purpose of ingress and egress to his property south of it, is. valued at $100.
No evidence was offered as to the relocation of the barbed wire fence, and the proof insofar as the artesian well is concerned and the damages to the remaining property of Defendant is insufficient and inadequate upon which to base any value. Inasmuch as the Defendant in expropriation proceedings must sustain the burden of proving his claim for damages in excess of the estimated compensation deposited in the registry of the court, LSA-R.S. 48:453; State of Louisiana, Through Department of Highways v. Levy, 242 La. 259, 136 So. 2d 35, such claims are rejected.
It is now well settled law in Louisiana that the most effective and reliable rule to be used by the court in fixing values of property expropriated is the utilization of comparable sales, and where compara-bles are available the resort to other methods of evaluating the property, such as opinions of experts based on general knowledge become secondary.
For these reasons the judgment of the trial Court is amended so as to reduce the principal amount of judgment in favor of Defendant to the sum of $3,989.60. In all other respects the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed as amended.
HERGET, J., concurs and assigns written reasons.
REID, J., recused.