Opinion ID: 1833618
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Scope of Injunctive Relief.

Text: In attacking the injunctive relief granted by the court, Luloff confines his complaint to the scope of the injunction. He does not claim any error in the court's finding that condemnation of parcel E was an unnecessary taking; he simply asserts the injunction should not have extended to the cemetery route. Upon our de novo review of the record, we agree with the trial court's decision to enjoin Luloff from proceeding with the present condemnation in its entirety. A brief review of the applicable legal principles and the history of these proceedings supports our decision. A landowner whose property is the subject of a condemnation action may permanently enjoin the eminent domain proceeding upon proof of two items. First, there must be fraud, oppression, illegality or abuse of power or discretion by the condemnor. Mann v. City of Marshalltown, 265 N.W.2d 307, 313 (Iowa 1978); accord Luloff I, 512 N.W.2d at 274 ([I]f an individual attempts to abuse the statutory provision [section 471.4(2) ], the courts can intervene to halt such abuse.); Halweg v. City of Sioux City, 189 N.W.2d 623, 624 (Iowa 1971) (holding injunctive relief may be granted upon an equitable ground such as fraud, illegality or want of power); Gardner v. City of Charles City, 259 Iowa 506, 512, 144 N.W.2d 915, 919 (1966) (noting general rule that injunction of condemnation proceeding may be had upon a showing of fraud, abuse of discretion, or illegal deprivation of rights in violation of constitutional or statutory provisions governing the power of eminent domain). Second, the landowner must prove irreparable injury and the inadequacy of any legal remedy. Matlock, 531 N.W.2d at 122; Incorporated City of Denison v. Clabaugh, 306 N.W.2d 748, 755 (Iowa 1981). A permanent injunction is an extraordinary remedy. Clabaugh, 306 N.W.2d at 755. Therefore, the court should carefully weigh the relative hardship which would be suffered by the enjoined party upon awarding injunctive relief. Matlock, 531 N.W.2d at 122. As noted above, Luloff does not contest the district court's finding that parcel E was not necessary for Luloff to obtain access to his land. See 3 Nichols on Eminent Domain § 9.03, at 9-10, 9-13 to 9-14, 9-41 (rev.3d ed.1997) (stating condemnor may only take property that is reasonably necessary); cf. Mann, 265 N.W.2d at 313 (stating [t]here can be no doubt there must be a necessity for the taking, in reference to condemnation by city). He also concedes a permanent injunction against the condemnation of parcel E is proper. Consequently, we confine our consideration of the appropriateness of injunctive relief to the cemetery route. A. Showing of fraud, oppression, abuse of power, illegality or violation of statutory or constitutional provisions. We concluded in our prior opinion that the cemetery route fails to provide access to Luloff's land because it terminates on a line parallel to the north boundary of Luloff's property. Luloff I, 512 N.W.2d at 274. We also held that a condemnation action is inadequate under section 471.4(2) if the proposed route does not by itself provide the necessary access to the landlocked property. Id. Thus, condemnation of the cemetery route under the refiled application violates the statutory provisions governing eminent domain. We think the Lichtys have also shown Luloff has abused the power of condemnation and used it for an oppressive purpose. After Luloff I had been remanded to the district court, Luloff wrote a series of letters, against his attorney's advice, to the Lichtys' lawyer. These letters reveal Luloff wanted the Lichtys to buy his five-acre parcel for $30,000, even though Luloff had bought it for only $500. He asserts in one letter, I'm a long ways from broke and Gary [Lichty] is dreaming if he thinks I don't have the money or the will to pursue this matter for a lifetime. In a later letter to the Lichtys' attorney, he warns the attorney that Gary is running out of money. He continues, The land price offer keeps going higher over $30,000 as my expenses mount. Gary is whipped and not man enough to admit it.... I enjoy winning all the cases for the law records. These letters also evidence Luloffs' excessive and unjust use of the pending condemnation to harass Gary Lichty. In one letter, Luloff states he is designing an arched iron sign bearing the name of the new road to be mounted over the condemned roadway. He asks Gary to choose between Luloff's Lane or Luloff's Parkway as the name for the new road through the Lichtys' property. In another letter, Luloff states, I checked my cemetery road to see whether Gary had brought it up to my maintenance standards. (Emphasis added.) He then complains about Gary's mowing of the property adjoining the proposed road. In Luloff's final letter, he again states that Gary will have to follow higher standards set by me concerning Gary's usage and maintenance of my cemetery road. He ends this letter with the announcement that [u]pon winning the condemnation action we are planning a public parade and picnic with news coverage. Gary and family will be invited to explain how it is best to conform to the law. In summary, on our de novo review we find that Luloff's proposed road does not comply with Iowa's eminent domain statute. That is because the cemetery route without the east-west segment, as to which Luloff concedes the injunction is proper, does not provide access to the landlocked parcel. Perhaps even more importantly, we also find Luloff has used the condemnation proceedings to harass the Lichtys and to extort an exorbitant price from them to purchase his property so as to avoid further litigation. B. Irreparable injury and inadequate legal remedy. The need to engage in a multiplicity of lawsuits to obtain relief is generally viewed as an irreparable injury without an adequate legal remedy. E.g., Hockenberg Equip. Co. v. Hockenberg's Equip. & Supply Co., 510 N.W.2d 153, 158 (Iowa 1993); Planned Parenthood of Mid-Iowa v. Maki, 478 N.W.2d 637, 640 (Iowa 1991); accord 42 Am.Jur.2d Injunctions § 50, at 791 (1969). Nevertheless, a court should not intervene to prevent multiple suits brought by the same plaintiff unless it is clearly necessary to protect against continued vexatious or oppressive litigation. Miller v. Ellis, 232 Iowa 558, 561, 5 N.W.2d 828, 830 (1942); 42 Am.Jur.2d Injunctions §§ 205, 206, at 986-87. Injunctions on this basis rest on the fact that the litigation is for the purpose of harassing, annoying, and vexing an opponent, and that the jurisdiction of the court is invoked by the numerous proceedings, not for the attainment of justice, but rather to further or satisfy individual malice toward another. 42 Am.Jur.2d Injunctions § 206, at 988. Our finding that Luloff used the condemnation proceedings for oppressive and vexatious purposes places this case within the rule allowing injunctive relief. C. Balancing the equities. We recognize that a grant of injunctive relief will result in some hardship to Luloff. As Luloff argues, the pasture route that will now provide access to his property is not as desirable or convenient as the cemetery route. [3] Notwithstanding this hardship, we think the equities of this case support an injunction. First, Luloff has had ample opportunity to file an adequate condemnation action. The entire focus of our conditional affirmance of the district court's denial of injunctive relief in Luloff I was the failure of Luloff's proposed route to provide him with access to his property. We remanded the case so he would have a second chance to remedy this deficiency, but he did not do so. That brings us to the second reason the equities of this case do not favor Luloff's position. Luloff did not make a slight or inadvertent error in the refiled application. He purposely chose to condemn land he did not need solely to harass the Lichtys and to preserve his own property while transferring to the Lichtys the burden of providing land for a public roadway. As the district court noted, there was no legitimate reason that the cemetery route could not have been extended directly south and enter Luloff's property on the west rather than from the north. The final reason injunctive relief is equitable here is that Luloff had fair warning that he may not have another chance to condemn this roadway if he did not comply with the condition imposed on remand. We cautioned in Luloff I that [f]ailure to comply with the conditions ... shall be grounds for the district court to enjoin further proceedings on Luloff's eminent domain application. Luloff I, 512 N.W.2d at 275 (emphasis added); cf. Hockenberg Equip. Co., 510 N.W.2d at 158 (affirming permanent injunction where defendant had notice that breach of settlement agreement would entitle plaintiff to injunctive relief). This action has been pending since 1989 and has been used by Luloff to harass and annoy the Lichtys. Without a permanent injunction, this litigation may continue for several more years with the same consequences, as we have no assurance from Luloff that his next application will satisfy the requirements of our condemnation law any more than did his previous two applications. Under these circumstances, we conclude further pursuit of this condemnation will result in irreparable injury to the Lichtys and that they have no adequate remedy at law. Therefore, we affirm the district court's decree granting a permanent injunction to the Lichtys.