Title: Gray v. Ouachita Creek Watershed District
Citation: 351 S.W.2d 142
Docket Number: 5-2504
State: Arkansas
Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court
Date: November 20, 1961

351 S.W.2d 142 (1961) McKinley GRAY et al., Appellants, v. OUACHITA CREEK WATERSHED DISTRICT, Appellee. No. 5-2504. Supreme Court of Arkansas. November 20, 1961. George F. Hartje, Jr., Conway, for appellants. *143 Mehaffy, Smith &amp; Williams, by R. Ben Allen, Little Rock, for appellee. McFADDIN, Justice. The question presented is whether there has been an arbitrary and excessive taking of lands in an eminent domain proceeding. In September, 1960, the appellee, Ouachita Creek Watershed District (hereinafter called "District") filed its complaint in the Perry Circuit Court seeking to acquire by eminent domain certain lands for the construction site of dams, etc. in its watershed construction project. The complaint alleged in part: The appellant McKinley Gray, for himself and other landowners, filed answer and cross-complaint. He admitted the organization of the District but claimed that the taking of some of the lands was arbitrary and excessive. The Perry Circuit Court temporarily suspended all the proceedings in the condemnation case; and transferred to the Chancery Court, for determination, the issue as to whether there was an arbitrary and excessive taking of lands by the District. The Chancery Court heard the issue transferred to it and entered its decree, the germane portion of which recites: From the Chancery Decree there is this appeal, and the appellants list as the only point presented: When the appellant alleged that the taking was arbitrary and excessive, there was thus presented an issue which was cognizable in chancery. Burton v. Ward, 218 Ark. 253, 236 S.W.2d 65. But the making of such an allegation is much easier than the offering of sufficient evidence to sustain it. The State, by conferring on the District the power of eminent domain,[1] necessarily left largely to the discretion of the District the location and area of the land to be taken. And one seeking to show that the taking has been arbitrary or excessive shoulders a heavy burden of proof in the attempt to persuade the Court to overrule the District's judgment. Burford v. Upton, Ark., 338 S.W.2d 929; Woollard v. State Highway Comm., 220 Ark. 731, 249 S.W.2d 564; State Game &amp; Fish Comm. v. Hornaday, 219 Ark. 184, 242 S.W.2d 342; State Highway Comm. v. Saline County, 205 Ark. 860, 171 S.W.2d 60; and Patterson Orchard Co. v. Southwest Arkansas Utilities Corp., 179 Ark. 1029, 18 S.W.2d 1028, 65 A.L.R. 1446. In State Highway Comm. v. Saline County, supra [205 Ark. 860, 171 S.W.2d 61] the State Highway Commission was condemning a right-of-way through certain lands, and we said of the Highway Commission: Did the appellants discharge the heavy burden imposed upon them in this case? That is, did they show that the taking was arbitrary and excessive? They offered the testimony of a capable engineer who testified that in his opinion the dams "2" and "3", to be located on the lands of appellants in the northernmost end of the District, were unnecessary, and that the same result could be obtained by deepening the main ditch one foot. To overcome *145 this testimony, the appellee District introduced the Hydraulic Engineer of the Soil Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and also the Assistant State Conservationist of the Soil Conservation Service. These witnesses for the defendant testified that the work plan of the district was correct. There was introduced in evidence this plan for watershed protection, flood prevention, and agricultural water management of the Ouachita Creek Watershed; and it is a most enlightening prospectus. Five technicians spent months going over the ground and preparing the booklet for this Ouachita Creek Watershed, and the result of their efforts and labors is the plan that was introduced. They used mathematical formulas as to the number of acres, the rainfall, the drainage problems, etc., etc., and concluded that these dams "2" and "3", on the lands here involved, were required for the safe operation of the watershed project. The engineer for the appellants was just as capable as the engineers for the District; and it is just a difference of opinion between the engineers as to whether the deepening of the main ditch is better than the location of the two uppermost dams. The situation was very well summed up in the question to and answer made by the engineer for the appellants: With the evidence thus in equipoise, the Chancery Court held that the objecting landowners had failed to establish by the required quantum of proof that there was an arbitrary and excessive taking. On appeal, we cannot say that the decision of the Chancellor was against the preponderance of the evidence. When honest and capable men may differ as to whether to build a dam or deepen a channel, it is a matter in the engineering field; and, on this evidence, there is certainly no showing that the taking was excessive or arbitrary. With the District acting on the advice of its engineers and advisers, certainly the District did not abuse its discretion in following the work plan developed over many months by competent persons. The decree is affirmed. [1] See § 21-912, Ark.Stats.