Court Opinion

ID: 9768798
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 13:49:58.294806+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:45.671195
License: Public Domain

George Rose Smith, J., dissenting. In this case the Highway Commission obtained a county court order in October, 1947, by which a change in the location of the highway was authorized. The appellee had no notice of the county court proceedings, but by the following spring, when the appellee planted the crops now in question, the Highway Commission had marked the proposed right-of-way with flags. The appellee admitted at the trial that when he planted his crop he knew where the highway was going to be. In a similar situation we have held that the entry of the surveyor for the purpose of laying out the right-of-way supplies the notice that is lacking in the county court proceedings, and therefore the one-year period allowed for filing a claim for compensation begins to run against the landowner from the date of the surveyor’s visible entry. Greene County v. Hayden, 175 Ark. 1067, 1 S. W. 2d 803. As I see it, the real problem in this case is that of determining the landowner’s proper course of action when the staking of the right-of-way puts him on notice that his land is to be taken. If he fails to plant a crop he may lose the use of the land for a year if the Highway Commission relocates the right-of-way or abandons the project altogether, as it has the privilege of doing. Selle v. City of Fayetteville, 207 Ark. 966, 184 S. W. 2d 58. On the other hand, if the landowner goes ahead with liis planting the Highway Commission is compelled to pay unnecessary damages merely because it proceeds expeditiously and completes the taking before the crop can be harvested, as was true in this case. The majority solve this problem simply by saying that the landowner is entitled to ignore the impending taking as far as the use of his land is concerned, even though he cannot ignore it as far as the filing of Ms claim for compensation is concerned. This does not seem to me to be the best available answer, since it gives the landowner all the advantage and penalizes the State for acting with praiseworthy diligence. In the Selle case, supra, we said that if the public begins a condemnation proceeding that is later abandoned, “the condemnor is liable for any damages occasioned by a deprivation of any use of the land to which it would prudently have been put.” I think the word “prudently” furnishes the answer to the question posed by this case. When the landowner is put on notice that his land is to be taken he must act with prudence rather than with complete disregard of the condemnor’s intentions. He should at least make some inquiry as to when the actual taking is to occur. If he is assured by the condemnor that he has time to plant and harvest a crop, then he is free to plant and should receive compensation if his land is actually taken before the crop can be gathered. But if the landowner’s inquiry discloses that he will not be able to harvest his crop then he should not be permitted to enhance his damages by planting and cultivating a crop that will never reach maturity. It might be answered that even after the landowner has prudently decided not to plant his land the Highway Commission might still abandon the project and thereby cause the property to lie fallow for a year. This suggestion presents no difficulty whatever. As the majority point out, as soon as the right-of-way is staked out the landowner is entitled to enjoin any further proceedings until the condemnor makes a bond to secure the ultimate payment of compensation. But deprivation of the use of the land is equally a taking, and I can think of no reason why the bond in question might not be made broad enough to cover the rental value of the property if the condemnor failed to complete the condemnation and thereby caused the landowner an unnecessary loss. At tlie trial tlie jury were instructed that they might consider the value of the crop in arriving at their award of compensation. I think the instruction should have been that this value might be considered only if the landowner acted with reasonable prudence in planting the crop after having notice that his land was to be taken. I would therefore reverse the judgment and remand the cause for a new trial. Holt, J., joins in this dissent.