Opinion ID: 365554
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discretion to Appoint a Commission.

Text: 7 The landowners contend that it was an abuse of discretion for the court to appoint a commission in their cases because only a small amount of property possessing unique characteristics was involved, a jury trial would not have occasioned them hardship, and a jury would have been more sympathetic than a commission to small landowners. Yet it was precisely because the Supreme Court considered use of a commission to be more equitable to small property owners that it authorized commission appointment. 8 Subdivision (h) of Rule 71A of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure gives the court discretion, because of the character, location, or quantity of property to be condemned, or for other reasons in the interest of justice, to order the use of a commission to determine the compensation due. The advisory committee that formulated the present rule had previously proposed a rule requiring a jury trial on the issue of just compensation in all cases except when existing statutes provided to the contrary. 1 The Supreme Court directed the committee to reconsider in view of assertions that: (1) a provision for jury trial would be unfair in the case of many small landowners who lived at distances remote from the place where court would be held; (2) such a trial would be expensive and burdensome to them; and (3) commissions are less likely than juries to make disproportionate awards when the government is condemning great acreages. See generally 12 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 3051; 5 Moore's Federal Practice P 38.32(2). 9 In presenting its revised proposal, now subdivision (h), the Advisory Committee noted that the reasons justifying use of a commission for TVA cases applied not only to the TVA but to other large governmental projects, such as . . . hydroelectric power . . . national forests, and others. Supplementary Report to the Court of the Advisory Committee, March 1951, Reprinted in 7 Moore's Federal Practice P 71A.06(2) at 71A-172. The Committee further noted that the rule as drafted met the Court's concerns: (i)n large projects like the TVA the court may decide to use a commission. Id. at 71A-173. 10 The Lake Wallace project embraces 21,215 acres, composed of 225 tracts held by 197 different owners. The property taken is located in five counties, all of which are some distance from where the district court sits. At the time these cases were commenced, it was estimated by Georgia Power Company's land department manager that it would be necessary to file about 40 condemnation cases to acquire the property; coincidentally, 40 cases had been brought by the time this appeal was briefed. The district court noted each of these factors in denying a jury trial. 11 Our prior cases applying Rule 71A support the district court's decision. Although we have previously stressed that a commission is to be used only for exceptional reasons, See United States v. Leavell & Ponder, Inc., 5 Cir. 1961, 286 F.2d 398, 407-08, Cert. denied, 366 U.S. 944, 81 S.Ct. 1674, 6 L.Ed.2d 855 and United States v. Buhler, 5 Cir. 1958, 254 F.2d 876, 880, we have recognized that Rule 71A(h) permits denial of a jury trial and appointment of a commission in cases involving large areas held by many small landowners, or property too distant for a jury to view the premises . . . . Id. We have also upheld the use of a commission in a project involving only sixteen parcels of land. United States v. 2,477.79 Acres of Land, 5 Cir. 1958, 259 F.2d 23. 12 The fact that the property of the particular landowners involved in these cases was small and possessed unique characteristics, or that the landowners desired a jury trial, is not controlling; the rule focuses on the character, location or quantity of the entire property being condemned, hence on the overall scope of the project. See Buhler, supra, 254 F.2d at 880. A tremendous undertaking may embrace particular tracts of small size whose appraisal is relatively easy. The commission is appointed for the entire project, not simply for specific parcels whose value is difficult to determine. If, indeed, these properties are so singular as to require complex analysis, that factor would weigh in favor of, rather than against, the appointment of a commission. See Leavell & Ponder, supra, 286 F.2d at 408-09; United States v. Cunningham, 4 Cir. 1957, 246 F.2d 330, 333. 13