Opinion ID: 1569038
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Propriety of Order.

Text: Aside from the matter of authority to make the order, appellants argue the propriety of the order. This they do under two headings entitled There was no necessity for placing the government in possession and The order for possession was improvidently made. Both of these may be treated together. The argument as to the first is that the Secretary of the Treasury is forbidden to expend any moneys for building operations until the Attorney General had rendered an opinion that title was in the United States (which could not be done pending the condemnation proceedings) and the government was already in possession, for all purposes, under the lease. The argument as to the second is that there is grave doubt whether the ultimate award will not exceed the $480,000.00 appropriation and that as a consequence title cannot ultimately pass under any present act of Congress and there is therefore no assurance that compensation for any purpose will ever be paid to these landowners, which, coupled with the lack of necessity for the order, made it improvident. As to the danger of no payment for the occupancy under the order if the ultimate award should exceed $480,000 and the proceeding be abandoned by the Secretary of the Treasury, we have above removed the cause for such apprehensions. As to the necessity for the order  the court was not ruled by the necessity but by the advisability of the order. Such determination is within the wise discretion of the trial court (20 C. J. 970 and citations), and should not be overturned, unless clearly exercised improperly. The statutes of Minnesota provide that interest on an award shall begin with the filing thereof by the commissioners (section 6552, Mason's Minn. St. 1927), and the Supreme Court of the state has distinctly decided that the taking is of that date. City of Minneapolis v. Wilkin, 30 Minn. 145, 146, 147, 148, 15 N. W. 668; Whitacre v. St. P. & S. C. R. Co., 24 Minn. 311, 312; Warren v. First Div., St. Paul & P. R. Co., 21 Minn. 424, 425, 427; U. S. v. Sargent, 162 F. 81, 84, this court. With the taking as of the date the award was filed by the commissioners, with interest on the ultimate award allowable from that date, and with the payment for such occupancy secured by ample appropriation by Congress, the court might well conclude that possession should be given as under an order in the condemnation proceeding. This view might well be further enforced by the amount of the award which was far below the maximum appropriation and the attendant natural presumption that the property would ultimately be taken under the proceeding. Another consideration which might well affect the discretion of the court is that this record shows that the commissioners placed the value of this property at $317,562; yet this lease was for a long-time annual rental of $120,000, or an annual rental of more than 37½ per cent. of the value found by disinterested commissioners. Such an outrageous rental suggests a powerful incentive to appellants to delay, in every possible manner, the ultimate determination of the condemnation proceeding in order to prolong the receipt of such a rental. The situation shown by the above recitals, not only fails to show that the trial court exercised his discretion improperly, but strongly shows the wisdom of the order. The order should be, and is, affirmed.