Title: Shelby County v. Hatfield
Citation: 88 So. 2d 842
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: June 21, 1956

88 So. 2d 842 (1956)
SHELBY COUNTY
v.
O. A. HATFIELD et al. (Tract No. 88-A).
7 Div. 318.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 21, 1956.
*843 Handy Ellis, Columbiana, for appellant.
Karl C. Harrison, and Wales W. Wallace, Jr., Columbiana, for appellees.
MERRILL, Justice.
Appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Shelby County fixing appellees' damages and compensation in a condemnation proceeding at $3,500.
On March 5, 1954, Shelby County filed a petition in the Probate Court of that county to condemn lands of appellees for highway purposes. From the final order of condemnation in the Probate Court, the appellees appealed to Circuit Court and demanded a jury. After verdict and judgment in favor of the appellees, appellant filed a motion for a new trial which was overruled and Shelby County prosecuted this appeal.
There are twenty-three assignments of error. Numbers 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are not mentioned in brief and are not considered; Supreme Court Rule 9, Code 1940, Tit. 7 Appendix. Appellees strenuously insist that appellant's brief does not comply with other provisions of Rule 9. The "Statement of the Case" is adequate, but the purported "Statement of the Facts" makes no reference "to the pages of the transcript" as required by the rule. The "Propositions of Law" are five general propositions and comply with the rule, but no specific application to the rulings assigned for error is made in brief, and no authority is ever mentioned or cited in the "Argument" section of the brief in support of any assignment of error. Where there is no citation of, or reference to, an authority in the argument pertaining to any assignment, we think the argument does not "`reach the dignity of an insistence upon the grounds of error covering it.'" Republic Iron &amp; Steel Co. v. Quinton, 194 Ala. 126, 69 So. 604, 607; Suits v. Glover, 260 Ala. 449, 71 So. 2d 49, 43 A.L.R.2d 465; 2A Alabama Digest Appeal and Error. Although Appellant's brief does not conform with Rule 9, we can, in our discretion, consider some of the assignments of error insisted on in brief; Simmons v. Cochran, 252 Ala. 461, 41 So. 2d 579, and we exercise that discretion, because most of the assignments are concerned with requested written charges.
Assignments of error 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 14 are based upon the refusal of certain requested written charges. All of these charges instructed the jury that the fact that adjacent lots may have been filled in with dirt or rock, or that water was caused to flow onto appellees' land, "cannot be considered by you." But appellant requested, and the court gave, a written instruction (charge A-1) that the jury should consider the fill and the water. This latter charge was inconsistent and in conflict with the eight refused charges. The appellant, having invoked the ruling of the court in giving charge A-1, will not be heard to complain that the court refused to give written charges inconsistent therewith. Western Union Tel. Co. v. Griffith, 161 Ala. 241, 50 So. 91. Moreover, some of these charges were properly refused because they were not predicated on the evidence. Walls v. Decatur Fertilizer Co., 215 Ala. 426, 111 So. 214; Birmingham Belt R. Co. v. Nelson, 216 Ala. 149, 112 So. 422; Birmingham Baptist Hospital v. Branton, 218 Ala. 464, 118 So. 741; Hammond Motor Co. v. Acker, 219 Ala. 291, 122 So. 173.
Assignment of error 6 is based upon the refusal of charge 6. This charge is elliptical, in that there is no subject for the predicate, and reversible error will not be predicated on its refusal. Sovereign Camp, W. O. W. v. Gay, 217 Ala. 543, 117 So. 78; Jones, Alabama Jury Instructions Sec. 281.
Assignments of error 15, 16 and 18 relate to exceptions taken to parts of the oral charge of the court. The statements of the court were to the effect that in estimating *844 the damages, the jury may take into consideration the acreage or amount and value of the land taken for the right of way. Appellant's discussion of assignment of error 15 includes the following:
No authority is cited, but, based on the argument, appellant's fifth proposition of law probably is directed at this contention. That proposition is:
Each of the cases cited contain this statement:
Each case cites in support of the statement, several cases including the cases from which we now quote. In Pickens County v. Jordan, 239 Ala. 589, 196 So. 121, 123, this court said:
In Pryor v. Limestone County, 222 Ala. 621, 134 So. 17, 18, the court said:
See also Alabama Power Co. v. Henson, 237 Ala. 561, 187 So. 718, 720, where it was said:
Therefore, one of the elements of "just compensation," and one of the elements of value to be considered is the value of the land actually taken, and the oral charge of the court was in conformity with this principle. The oral charge also adequately covered the rule as to "the final inquiry" in these cases. We add that we are unable to agree that the two Morgan County cases cited in proposition V are supportive of the proposition quoted from appellant's brief, nor do they support the quoted portion of appellant's argument.
Assignment of error 19 is based on the trial court's failure to grant the motion for a new trial. Appellant argues that certain photographs introduced at the hearing on the motion showed that very little substantial damage had been done to appellees' property. The trial court permitted the photographs into evidence over objection of the appellees. The record is silent as to when the pictures were taken, except that they must have been taken at least two days before the hearing on the motion, because the photographer's affidavit was acknowledged on that date. There is nothing in the record to show that this evidence is intended to impeach or contradict former evidence or that it is newly discovered evidence. For aught that appears from the record, this evidence was neither relevant nor material and there was a total lack of identification as to the time the pictures were taken. We assume the trial court did not consider them and neither can we. Based on the record before us, the motion for a new trial was properly overruled.
There is no support in the propositions of law in brief for the remaining assignments of error and they are not considered.
The judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and LAWSON and STAKELY, JJ., concur.