Opinion ID: 1501474
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Claim for Damages for Abandonment of Condemnation

Text: Missouri courts have long recognized a claim for damages resulting from abandonment of condemnation proceedings by a private corporation. North Missouri Railroad Co. v. Lackland, 25 Mo. 515 (Mo. 1857). See also, Missouri State Park Board v. McDaniel, 513 S.W.2d 447, 449 (Mo.1974) and Nifong v. Texas Empire Pipe Line Co., 225 Mo.App. 1134, 40 S.W.2d 522, 524 (1931). The award of damages is based on the broad principle of the inherent equity in the proposition that when the corporation, clothed with and exercising such extraordinary powers delegated by the government, in which it properly resides, entails expense upon the proprietor in protecting his private property rights and the proceeding is dismissed or abandoned, as a result of which he receives no compensation whatever, the corporation, on the plainest principles of justice, should reimburse him to the extent of such reasonable expenditure entailed by its voluntary act. Nifong, 40 S.W.2d at 524 quoting Kirn v. Railroad, 124 Mo.App. 271, 101 S.W. 673 (1907). Missouri law draws a clear distinction between governmental and nongovernmental condemnors. Governmental condemnors, clothed with the privileges of the sovereign, are liable upon abandonment of a condemnation only if they act in bad faith. Center School District v. Kenton, 345 S.W.2d 120, 126 (Mo.1961); Meadow Park Land Co. v. School District of Kansas City, 301 Mo. 688, 257 S.W. 441 (1923). Private corporations that are granted the sovereign's power of eminent domain do not get the protection afforded by the bad faith standard. Non-governmental condemnors are liable for the costs, expenses and actual losses inflicted on the land-owner, by the institution and maintenance of the proceedings to condemn his land after the proceedings are discontinued. Nifong, supra, 40 S.W.2d at 523-524, quoting Leisse v. St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad Co., 2 Mo.App. 105, 113-114. A separate action such as filed by 66, Inc. here is the only means for making a damages claim for abandonment of condemnation because the only damage issue recognized in a condemnation proceeding is the value of the real estate being taken. Rule 86.08. The owner's claim for expense and loss suffered from the condemnation proceeding, which is not damage to the real estate, cannot be asserted as a counterclaim in the condemnation action itself, but must be brought in a separate action for damages. Rejecting the use of a counterclaim for such damages, this Court in State ex rel. Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp. v. Gaertner, 626 S.W.2d 373, 378 (Mo. banc 1982) said: Pending the granting of a more expeditious form of relief by the legislature, or modification of our present rules of civil procedure by the Court, landowner's relief lies in pursuing in a separate action the claim now alleged and stated in his counterclaim. Our prior cases have recognized such a right on the part of the landowner. 626 S.W.2d at 378 (Emphasis added.) In Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp., supra, the landowner's counterclaim in the condemnation proceeding sought to recover rent lost by reason of a pending condemnation proceeding. This Court held that the landowner had to file a separate claim for damages. Id. In the present case, 66, Inc. has properly followed this procedure in making its claim for damages. Crestwood Commons argues that the claim for damages recognized in Lackland, supra , and the cases relying on that decision, is based on language in the charters of railroads and pipeline companies and is not applicable in the context of redevelopment corporations. In the line of cases from Lackland, supra , in 1857 to recent cases involving redevelopment corporations, e.g., Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp., supra, the claim for damages arises from general common law principles, not from statutory language. What is significant about the statutory charter language and the redevelopment corporation statute, section 353.130 (which grants to redevelopment corporations the eminent domain powers of chapter 523) is that these statutory provisions do not exclude the kind of claim made here by 66, Inc. Therefore, the principles expressed in Lackland, supra , and its progeny are applicable to Crestwood Commons. The right to damages for abandonment of condemnation is not extinguished or pre-empted by the statute, section 523.045, that allows interest to be awarded in the trial court's discretion. Section 523.045 was enacted in 1959 to provide for payment of interest on the condemnation award by a condemnor that abandons the condemnation more than thirty days after the filing of the commissioners' report. Section 523.045 does not mention damages incurred by the property owner as a result of that abandonment. Crestwood Commons asserts that this statutory award of interest is the exclusive remedy available to property owners upon abandonment of condemnation proceedings and supercedes any common law remedy. 66, Inc. contends that the legislature intended to provide an additional, non-exclusive remedy. This Court's statutory construction precedents support 66, Inc.'s interpretation that section 523.045 provides an additional non-exclusive remedy. A statutory right of action shall not be deemed to supersede and displace remedies otherwise available at common law in the absence of language to that effect unless the statutory remedy fully comprehends and envelops the remedies provided by the common law. Dierkes v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield, 991 S.W.2d 662, 668 (Mo.banc 1999) quoting Detling v. Edelbrock, 671 S.W.2d 265, 271 (Mo.1984). Section 523.045 does not expressly state that it is displacing the common law remedy. Moreover, it is only a partial remedy for the property owner. The provision for interest ... is different from and much less than damages authorized in some other states allowing recovery of costs and attorneys' fees upon abandonment. Missouri State Park Bd., supra, 513 S.W.2d at 451. Allowance of interest on the money defendant was entitled to receive when the commissioners' report was made is not damages suffered as a result of the pendency of condemnation proceedings. Id. Under the common law, the property owner is entitled as a matter of right to recover attorney's fees and other reasonable expenses and losses suffered as a result of a private condemnor's abandonment of the condemnation. [5] Section 523.045 provides only for interest on the condemnation award during the period it should have been available to the property owner, and the award is not a matter of right, but is discretionary with the trial court. This Court has said that section 523.045 does not afford a condemnee some new substantive right, but is merely procedural. State v. Kendrick, 383 S.W.2d 740, 747 (Mo.1964). The statutory remedy provided by section 523.045 should not be interpreted to supercede the common law damages remedy. However, we leave it to the trial court, upon remand, to avoid duplicative recovery if damages claimed in the wrongful abandonment claim overlap the interest award provided by section 523.045, if that interest judgment has been paid.