Opinion ID: 2163972
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: richey's appeal

Text: Richey contends that an alteration of a declaration of taking by the State to include a smaller easement is a partial abandonment of the taking that entitles the landowner to an award under SDCL 5-2-18 for expert witness fees and expenses, and attorney expenses. In the previous decision in this case we said: [T]he state did not seek to divest itself of or abandon any interest taken by the filing of the declaration of taking. Instead, the state sought to amend the plans required by SDCL 31-19-23(6) so that they would accurately reflect the situation that would exist when the highway construction project was complete. Richey, supra, at 51 (footnote omitted). Our holding in the previous appeal is determinative of the issue of partial abandonment. Richey's second contention is that a judgment in favor of a landowner against the State should bear interest at ten percent per annum from the date of entry, as do other judgments. SDCL 54-3-5. SDCL 31-19-33 provides that interest at the rate of six percent shall be included as a part of the just compensation due a landowner for land acquired by the State for highway purposes. Richey's argument that the 1972 amendment to SDCL 54-3-5 manifested a legislative intention to include condemnation judgments within the class of judgments that bear interest at the rate of ten percent is resourceful but not persuasive. Because it does not appear to have been raised in the trial court, we do not reach Richey's contention that the denial to a landowner in a condemnation action of the same rate of interest payable on other judgments constitutes a denial of the equal protection of the law. State v. Olesen, 86 S.D. 367, 196 N.W.2d 362 (1972); Empey v. Rapid City, 78 S.D. 462, 103 N.W.2d 861 (1960); Midland Nat. Life Ins. Co. v. Johnson, 69 S.D. 150, 7 N.W.2d 620 (1943). The trial court did not err in fixing the rate of interest on the judgment at six percent. In # 12722, the judgment is affirmed. The appeal in # 12762 is dismissed.