Opinion ID: 2116768
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: compensation for public crossings

Text: [13] The commission ordered that WCL was only entitled to reimbursement of its consequential damages. The commission concluded that installation of WSG's pipelines within the right-of-way of a public roadway imposed no additional burden upon WCL's property and warranted no compensation for the crossing right. WCL contends that the commission's conclusion is erroneous as a matter of law. Because the commission was interpreting Wisconsin case law in a case of first impression, we review this issue de novo. Jicha, 169 Wis. 2d at 291, 485 N.W.2d at 259. WCL relies on Krueger v. Wisconsin Tel. Co., 106 Wis. 96, 81 N.W. 1041 (1900). In Krueger, the telephone company placed a pole on a street corner, obstructing the view from the drugstore located at that corner. The court held that the city's easement was for a public highway and that the placement of the pole was inconsistent with public travel and imposed an additional servitude upon the land. Id. at 108-09, 81 N.W. at 1045. We disagree that Krueger is controlling. In Krueger, the utility placed a pole aboveground without approval from city officials. WSG, on the other hand, installed underground pipelines with approval from Racine county and the town of Rochester. Furthermore, the supreme court cast serious doubt on the Krueger rule when it stated: While it has been held that, when public authorities acquire title for purposes of public travel, sewers and other conduits may with the permission of the city be laid within the line of the street, such use of the street is an incident to the right to use the way for street purposes. No attempt has ever been made to condemn the premises in question for any use... other than street purposes. Upon what theory the property of the adjoining owner can be used for purposes which are not directly connected with public travel without imposing an additional burden, we do not need to inquire at the present time as it is undoubtedly the established law that it is subject to such use. Miller Inv. Co. v. City of Milwaukee, 209 Wis. 517, 523, 244 N.W. 753, 756 (1932); Miller v. City of Wauwatosa, 87 Wis. 2d 676, 683, 275 N.W.2d 876, 879 (1979). Miller Inv. Co. and Miller did not address the issue of burden imposed by utility installations in a public roadway right-of-way. However, persuasive authority exists in other jurisdictions which have held that construction of a water main within a public highway right-of-way did not place an additional burden on the land over which the highway ran. [4] [14] Based on the above statements of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and case law in other jurisdictions, we conclude that the rule in Wisconsin is that the placement of natural gas pipelines within a public roadway right-of-way does not impose an additional burden upon the land for which the fee owner must be compensated. By the Court. Judgment affirmed.