Case Name: STATE of Louisiana, Through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. William S. ROWND, Jr.; STATE of Louisiana, Through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. Ford GRAHAM
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1959-05-11
Citations: 119 So. 2d 282
Docket Number: Nos. 21181, 21182
Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. William S. ROWND, Jr. STATE of Louisiana, Through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. Ford GRAHAM.
Judges: JANVIER, Judge.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 119
Pages: 282–291

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana, Through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. William S. ROWND, Jr. STATE of Louisiana, Through the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS v. Ford GRAHAM.
Nos. 21181, 21182.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana. Orleans.
May 11, 1959.
On Rehearing Dec. 14, 1959.
On Second Rehearing March 28, 1960.
Certiorari Denied May 31, 1960.
W. Crosby Pegues, Jr., D. Ross Banister, Philip K. Jones, Brunswig Sholars, Baton Rouge, and Chester E. Martin, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellant.
Ourso & Cosner, Hammond, for defendants-appellees.

Opinion:
JANVIER, Judge.
These two expropriation proceedings, which for trial were consolidated, were brought by the State of Louisiana through the department of Highways against William S. Rownd, Jr. and Ford Graham each of whom was the owner of five lots of land on the highway known as State Route No. 33, which extends from Frenier in a generally northwesterly direction across Pass Manchac to Pontchatoula, Louisiana. The land in question is about one-half mile on the southeast side of Pass Manchac and is southwest of the highway.
The two suits were brought under authority of the special highway expropriation statute, Act 107 of 1954, now LSA-R.S. 48:441 et seq. The Department of Highways, proceeding in accordance with the provisions of that statute, took the required steps looking to the expropriation of the two parcels of land, and, having reached the conclusion that each lot was worth $75, deposited in the Registry of the 29th Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. John the Baptist $375 to the order of each of the said landowners, and called upon each of them to show cause why the amount so deposited should not be accepted as the true value of the expropriated property.
Each of the two landowners appeared and made certain technical defenses, all of which have since been abandoned, and each then asserted that the property in question was worth $450 per lot and that therefore each of the said owners was entitled to $2,250 instead of the $375 deposited.
Thereafter in each of the cases there was rendered judgment fixing the value of each said lot at $300 and thus fixing the value of the tract of land in each case at $1,500, and accordingly there was judgment in favor of each of the said landowners ordering the Department of Highways to deposit in each case an additional sum of $1,125, with 5% interest per annum from March 31, 1955, and there was further judgment ordering the Clerk of Court to pay to each of the said landowners the total amount due him as a result of the judgment, to-wit, $1,500 in each case.
There is some doubt, as the record now stands, as to. whether the amount required in each case was paid by the Department of Highways directly to each landowner, or was deposited in the Registry of the Court. We say this because of the fact that, when the matter was argued before us, counsel for the two appellee landowners stated that the additional amounts had been paid by the Department of Highways directly to each of the landowner-appellees and that it was for this reason that there had been filed by the appellees motions to dismiss the appeals because of acquiescence. Because of that statement of counsel for the ap-pellees we are not certain whether the payments were made directly to the landowners, or whether the necessary amounts were deposited in the registry of the court, although the judgment might seem to indicate that the amounts were deposited in court since the Clerk of Court is ordered to make each of the payments "from the deposit in the registry of this Court."
Eor reasons which we shall later set forth, we have found it unnecessary to determine whether the additional amounts of $1,125 in each case were deposited with the Clerk, or were paid directly to the appellees.
The Department of Highways appealed from each of the said judgments and it is-those appeals which are before us.
The appeals were lodged in this-Court on November 13, 1958, and on April 24, 1959, counsel for appellee-landowners-filed motions to dismiss the appeals because of acquiescence by the Department of Highways. The motions to dismiss are opposed by the Department of Highways-which, in addition to the contention that there has been no acquiescence, maintains, also that the motions should not prevail- or even be considered by us for either or both of two reasons: (1) It is asserted that the motions to dismiss were not filed within' the three days as counsel say is required! by Article 886 of our Code or Practice. (2) It is argued that the right to dismiss-an appeal because of acquiescence in a. judgment, which right is granted by Code-of Practice Article 567, is given to the appellee only where the appellant is a defendant who is cast in the judgment appealed from, and that, where, it is an unsuccessful plaintiff who has appealed, there-can be no dismissal on motion of the successful defendant. Counsel direct attention, to the fact that it is the Department of Highways which is the plaintiff and is appellant.
We cannot accept as sound either of' these two contentions. As to the first, that such a motion must be filed within three days of the lodging of the record in the appellate court, we direct attention to the fact that it is not every motion to dismiss-an appeal to which this three-day requirement is applicable.
Where acquiescence is relied on as warranting dismissal, it is entirely possible that the act which is pointed to as evidencing acquiescence may not have been committed until long after the expiration of the said three days. It necessarily follows that in such case the three-day requirement could not possibly be applied. It might well be that, after the expiration of the three-day period, the party cast might voluntarily acquiesce by paying the amount or complying with the judgment and yet the appellee, bcause the three-day period had elapsed, could not be heard to move for the dismissal of the appeal.
In Associated Motors, Inc. v. Burk, 14 La.App. 361, 129 So. 196, it was contended that a motion to dismiss an appeal because of acquiescence could be filed only within three days following the lodging of the transcript. This Court, referring to such appeal, said that "a motion to dismiss because of acquiescence may be filed at any time." See, also, James v. Fellowes, 23 La.Ann. 37; Cockerham v. Bosley, 52 La. Ann. 65, 26 So. 814, 816; Jackson v. Parish of Vernon, 150 La. 1057, 91 So. 509; Succession of Vatter, 191 La. 875, 186 So. 597, and Haydel v. Major, La.App., 19 So.2d 628.
The second of those rather technical objections to the motions to dismiss is based on the theory that it is only where the confession or acquiescence in the judgment has been made by a defendant-appellant that the appellee may move to dismiss the appeal. The argument here is that in such suits as those the Department of Highways, in accordance with the statute, is not defendant but is plaintiff. In the first place, even if the wording of Article 567 of the Code of Practice could be interpreted as counsel would have us read it, we could not persuade ourselves to accept this strained construction of very plain language. It is true that the Department of Highways is technically the plaintiff. However, as a result of its being plaintiff, the owners of the land have sought and have obtained judgments against the Department of Highways.
Therefore, were it not for other provisions in our Civil Code and in our Statutes, we would be forced to hold that, where such a judgment has been rendered and there has been voluntary and full acquiescence, a motion to dismiss must prevail.
When we come to consider the question of whether there has been acquiescence in the judgment, we note in the first place that, although in the special highway expropriation statute, Act 107 of 1954, LSA-R.S. 48:441 et seq., there is no express provision which grants to the Department of Highways the right to appeal, there are provisions which seem to us to indicate clearly that the Department has such a right though, for reasons which we shall later give, such an appeal may be devolu-tive only.
There are two provisions in the statute to which attention should be directed. Section 459, captioned "Effect of appeal", provides that no appeal "shall operate to prevent or delay the vesting of title The other section of the statute which is important is Section 454. It is captioned "Trial according to general expropriation laws." It provides that, except where specially otherwise provided in this amendment of 1954, these expropriation suits by the Department of Highways "are tried in accordance with the provisions of the general expropriation laws."
When we refer to the general expropriation laws which are to be found in LSA— R.S. 19, we find that section 13, as amended by Act 706 of 1954 thereof, reads as follows :
"There is no suspensive appeal from any judgment rendered in an expropriation suit. When a devolutive appeal is taken by either party, payment to the owner of the amount awarded by the trial court, or the deposit thereof in the registry of the court, entitles the plaintiff to the property described in the judgment in the same manner as would a voluntary conveyance. If any change in the amount awarded is made on that appeal, the plaintiff shall pay the additional assessment or recover the surplus paid."
We note also that Article 2634 of our Civil Code, LSA, has been amended by Act 70S of 1954 which is identical with LSA-R.S. 19:13.
Therefore the quoted provision of the general expropriation laws and the amended article of the Civil Code plainly indicate that where, after a trial, the value of the land taken is fixed at an amount greater than the amount of the original deposit, the additional amount required by the judgment may be paid either directly to the landowner, or deposited in the registry of the court and then withdrawn by the landowner, and they further plainly provide that should the amount awarded be changed on appeal, the necessary adjustment must be made. In other words, if the amount is increased, the plaintiff in the expropriation proceeding "shall be bound to pay the additional assessment," and if the amount is reduced, the party plaintiff in the proceeding shall "be entitled to recover back the surplus paid."
From these several provisions we reach the conclusion that the Department of Highways not only was within its rights, in appealing but as a matter of fact was bound by law, when appealing from the decision of the district court, to deposit the additional amount in the registry of the court, or to pay the necessary amount directly to the landowners, and that in doing either, it did not acquiesce in nor confess the judgments from which it had appealed.
The Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit had this identical situation before it in Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. Mosley, La.App., 18 So.2d 210, 215. The only difference between that case and those before us is that in that case it was < private corporation which sought to expropriate, whereas here it is the State which is acting through the Department of Highways. If that constitutes a difference it does not effect a distinction. There the Court said:
"The deposit with the sheriff of the amount of the jury's award and payment of all costs of suit did not and could not constitute acquiescence in the judgment. This course is expressly authorized by Article 2634 of the Civil Code if the plaintiff in a case of this kind desires to, prior to hearing on appeal, take possession of the land involved therein. If the award is increased or decreased on appeal this law provides what shall be done in either event. In New Orleans, Fort Jackson & G. I. Railroad v. Mrs. Ada McNeely, 47 La.Ann. 1298, 17 So. 798, this question was considered. The court disposed of it tersely by saying: 'The effect of the deposit by the corporation is to pass title from the owner to the corporation. It does not relate to the right of appeal. It remains unaffected by the deposit.'
"The same was held in New Orleans Terminal Company v. Firemen's Charitable Association, 115 La. 442, 39 So. 437.
"It is equally clear that the withdrawal of the tender money had no effect upon plaintiff's right to prosecute appeal."
We therefore conclude that the Department of Highways had the right to appeal, that it did appeal, and that the appeal should not be dismissed for acquiescence and that this is true regardless of whether the amounts required by the judgment were deposited and then withdrawn or were paid directly to the respective landowner-defendants. The motion to dismiss the appeals must be overruled.
This makes it necessary that we consider the evidence as to the value of the lands in question.
By agreement all the testimony was taken out of Court. The Department of Highways had made its estimate of value on the statements of three real estate brokers, but when the evidence was taken one of them was not available and the plaintiff therefore relied upon the evidence of the other two, Walton R. Davies and Thomas George Womack, both of whom resided in Tangipahoa Parish, which is on the other side of Pass Manchac. We have no doubt that both of these men were experts in their field, though neither of them had had any real estate transactions in the immediate area of the land in question. Both based their estimates on the fact that the land in question had been acquired only a few years earlier at $35 per lot and both said that they felt that by doubling the cost price and adding $5 for each lot, a fair value had been arrived at.
The defendants relied on the estimates of Ben C. Boudreaux, Henry Matherne and Fernon E. Schexnayder. Mr. Boudreaux, who was not a licensed real estate broker, stated that he had been in the business of buying and selling real estate for about 35 years and during 15 years he had bought and sold probably "eighty percent of all of the land from Bonne Carre Spillway north to Manchac." He said that the lots in question were worth $500 each. His testimony was attacked because of his obvious interest in having it determined that land of that kind in that area was enormously valuable.
Mr. Schexnayder lived in the immediate vicinity of the land in question. He testified that he had sold three lots to the Department of Highways and that the agent of the Department who handled the transaction told him that "he was giving us about $300 per lot," and he added that he believed that the total which the Department paid him for the three lots was $1,000. It appeared, however, that the property which he had sold the Department of Highways was improved and that he had been paid for the land and the improvements $9,534. He said that, while he could not say that the Department of Highways had fixed the value of the lots separately from the value of the improvements, he felt that the lots were worth at least $300, and he said: " j couldn't get the same lot now for that, they wouldn't sell it for that now."
Mr. Matherne had lived in the neighborhood from 25 to 30 years. He said that he had sold property to the Department of Highways and that the price paid him was $300 per lot. This was improved property and the deed by which the property was transferred did not show what part of the purchase price had been for improvements and what part had been for the land itself. He had been paid "close to $11,000.00, including everything." He did say, however, that when he was trading with the representative of the Department of Highways he had been sent a letter in which an offer was made, and that when he discussed the letter with the agent, he was told that the amount offered was based on $300 for each lot and that the balance of the purchase price represented improvements. He made a note of these figures on a letter which had been sent him by the Department of Highways and the letter was offered in evidence.
While we find it difficult to believe that land of that charatcer, in that location, which the record shows was used only for camps for trappers and fishermen, could have been worth $300 per lot, we cannot say that the finding of the District Judge, based on the record which we have discussed, was manifestly erroneous.
In the matter entitled State of Louisiana, through the Department of Highways v. William S. Rownd, Jr., No. 21181 of our docket, the judgment appealed from is affirmed at the cost of appellant.
In the matter entitled State of Louisiana, through the Department of Highways v. Ford Graham, No. 21182 of our docket, the judgment appealed from is affirmed at the cost of appellant.
Affirmed.
JANVIER, Judge.