Opinion ID: 406487
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Pursuant to Ark.Stat. §§ 35-302 and 73-276.15, AP&L possesses the power of eminent domain and, thus, has the right to condemn private property for the purpose of constructing electric generating plant sites and substation sites, and compressor substation sites and meter station sites. Condemnation is conditioned upon the payment of just compensation by the utility to the property owner. 3 On October 20, 1978, AP&L filed a petition in Independence County Circuit Court to condemn several tracts of land owned by plaintiffs Ray and Louise Edwards. To immediately secure title to plaintiffs' property, AP&L deposited in the registry of the circuit court, pursuant to a court order, the sum of $136,000. 1 The amount of the deposit was based upon AP&L's estimate to the circuit court that just compensation for plaintiffs' land was $850 per acre. 4 The plaintiffs filed their answer, which was essentially a general denial, and counterclaimed for (1) just compensation and (2) damages for, in essence, AP& L's failure to exercise good faith in estimating the value of plaintiffs' land at $850 per acre when it knew that the property was worth at least $1,650 per acre. 5 The parties stipulated that plaintiffs' just compensation and bad faith counterclaims were to be tried separately. Accordingly, the issues were bifurcated, and the bad faith claim was to be tried subsequent to the jury trial on just compensation. 6 In October, 1979, the Independence County jury determining just compensation found that the plaintiffs' land had a fair market value of $1,700 per acre. Pursuant to a motion by AP&L, however, this verdict was set aside, and AP&L was granted a new trial. A second jury awarded the plaintiffs $2,050 per acre for 167.25 acres of land and $816.67 per acre for an additional forty acres. The circuit court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs on their verdict. 7 Subsequently, the plaintiffs moved for a voluntary nonsuit of their bad faith counterclaim against AP&L. The circuit court granted the motion, explicitly stating that the dismissal was without prejudice. Thereafter, the plaintiffs filed their bad faith claim as a separate section 1983 action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The plaintiffs also filed their bad faith claim as a separate action in state court, but have not pursued that action pending resolution of this suit in the federal courts. The federal district court dismissed the plaintiffs' complaint, and they now appeal to this Court.