Court Opinion

ID: 9693571
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:50:26.354681+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:48.512536
License: Public Domain

McCown, J.,
dissenting.
The City of Omaha commenced this proceeding to take the property of the condemnee for public purposes. The. appraisers in the proceeding in county court fixed just compensation at $70,000. The City appealed to the District Court and its petition alleged: “That the fair market value of such interest in real estate so condemned was, at the time of such condemnation, $17,000.00.” One witness for the City testified that the value was $19,233. The City also presented another witness who testified, over objection, that the value of the property taken was nothing, and the jury found that the property had no value. The District Court recognized the injustice of such a verdict, and the errors which produced it, and granted a new trial. The City appealed that action to this court.
The majority opinion now holds that an award of nothing is just compensation for the taking of private property for public use; that a judicial admis*752sion by the condemning City that the property had substantial value did not mean anything because the property owner did not take advantage of it procedurally; and that the District Court, who recognized the errors of the trial and the obvious injustice of no compensation and granted a new trial, abused its discretion by doing so!
Such a holding exalts form over substance and places technical procedural rules above the constitutional guaranties of both federal and state Constitutions that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. Under the facts in this case, no compensation cannot be just compensation.
The majority opinion treats the constitutional prohibition that “[t]he property of no person shall be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation therefor” to mean that the property of a person may be taken for public use without compensation if one witness says the property has no value, and the jury believes him and finds accordingly, even if the condemnor has judicially admitted the property has substantial value. Art. I, § 21, Constitution of Nebraska.
An actual “taking” of property by condemnation is not a “damaging.” A condemnation award for a “taking” of property is not only for “damages” in the usual sense, it must also be compensation in the constitutional sense. “Compensation” under any meaning must be “something.” It cannot be “nothing.” If property has enough value to cause the government to bring a condemnation action to “take” it, that property has at least a nominal value, and “something” must be awarded as compensation. Procedural rules and trial tactics cannot be permitted to emasculate constitutional guaranties, nor should such obvious injustice be said to be beyond the reach of judicial discretion.
The action of the District Court in granting a new *753trial under the circumstances here was eminently correct and should have been affirmed.