Court Opinion

ID: 9725128
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:31:36.040152+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:10.915400
License: Public Domain

Carter, J.,
dissenting.
This is a condemnation proceeding commenced by the Airport Authority of the City of Omaha. The condemner may properly limit the extent of the taking, and the damages to the condemnee are limited to the property or interest in property taken by condemner’s petition of taking. The condemner cannot be compelled to take and compensate for anything in excess of the property described in his petition of taking.
The majority opinion holds that the condemner’s petition of taking was for two easements described as avigation and flight obstruction easements. Briefly stated, an avigation easement grants the right to fly over an owner’s land. A flight obstruction easement is one which increases the margin of safety for flying by assuring that a pilot’s vision will not be obscured by natural growth or man-made obstructions above a designated altitude. They are definite and distinct easements. United States v. Brondum, 272 F. 2d 642.
The majority opinion holds that the Airport Authority took both an avigation and a flight obstruction easement. I contend that a flight obstruction easement only was described in the condemner’s petition of taking and that condemnee’s damages should have been limited by the trial court to the taking of the flight obstruction easement. If my position be the correct one, the trial court was clearly in error in submitting to the jury the question of damages for the taking of an avigation easement.
The applicable portion of the petition of taking states: “That the members of said Airport Authority have determined the necessity of acquiring easements in air spaces above land and the right to prevent height obstructions in the clear-zone areas as established for the *816Omaha Municipal Airport in order to provide unobstructed air space for the landing and taking-off of aircraft pursuant to Section 3-204, Revised Statutes of Nebraska, 1943, Reissue of 1954; that it is necessary for petitioner to obtain for the benefit of the public in its use of the Airport, the right to prevent the owners or other parties in interest from hereafter erecting, or permitting the erection or growth, of any structure, tree or other object in the air space over any portion of the property hereinafter described higher than the number of feet hereinafter stated above the present ground level or elevation; said present ground level or elevation being as shown on Exhibit ‘A’ attached hereto and made a part thereof; that it is further necessary for petitioner to obtain for the benefit of the public in its use of the Airport, the continuing right and easement, from and after the deposit of the condemnation award with the County Judge, to take any action necessary to prevent the erection or growth of any structure, tree or other object into the air space higher than the number of feet hereinafter stated above the present ground level as heretofore defined, and to remove from such air space, or mark or light as obstructions to air navigation, any and all structures, trees or other objects that may at any time project or extend into the air space as heretofore defined, together with the right of ingress to, egress from, and passage over the tracts of property hereinafter described; said tracts being located in Douglas County, Nebraska, to-wit: * * *.” The number of feet above present ground level to be included in the easement over condemnee’s property is then specifically fixed at 26 feet by the petition for taking.
I point out that the only language that could possibly refer to the taking of an avigation easement are the words “acquiring easements in air spaces above land” appearing in the first sentence of the foregoing paragraph of the petition of taking. The use of the plural refers to the fact that 12 easements in 12 different prop*817erties are sought in this proceeding. There is no mention of the right to fly over land. The quoted portion of the petition of taking recites that the taking is pursuant to section 3-204, R. R. S. 1943, the statute dealing with the taking of flight obstruction easements. The foregoing statute uses very similar language to that contained in the petition of taking, to-wit: “Where necessary, in order to provide unobstructed air space for the landing and taking-off of aircraft utilizing airports or restricted landing areas * * * every municipality is authorized to acquire * * * easements through or other interests in air spaces over land or water, interests in airport hazards outside the boundaries of the airports or restricted landing areas and such other airport protection privileges as are necessary to insure safe approaches to the landing areas of said airports or restricted landing areas and the safe and efficient operation thereof.” The language construed by the majority as including an avigation easement is almost identical with the language of section 3-204, R. R. S. 1943, the flight obstruction easement statute. It should be construed in context with the flight obstruction statute and not be given an effect that is not within the meaning used in that statute. Both the avigation and flight obstruction easements are above the surface of the ground and consequently the use of the term “interests in air spaces” is as applicable to one as to the other.
The petition of taking does not even purport to define the limits of a proposed avigation easement. No longitudinal, lateral, or vertical distances are recited. The plat attached describes only a flight obstruction easement and makes no reference whatever to an avigation easement. The allegations of fact pertain only to a flight obstruction easement. The answer filed by condemner in the district court makes this plainer than the original petition of taking. The number of feet above ground level as it relates to the easement taken is definitely fixed at 26 feet. I submit that the description of *818the easement taken is insufficient to support the taking and compensating for any easement other than a flight obstruction easement. An avigation easement is not described by words or plat with the certainty required in a condemnation proceeding.
The case is identical with United States v. Brondum, supra, wherein the court said: “This appeal turns on the distinction between a clearance or obstruction easement and an avigation or flight easement. These terms are not jargon leading to fruitless semantics; not in condemnation proceedings, anyway. In condemnation proceedings they are useful tags to identify distinctive estates in property. Here, the district judge erred in interpreting a clearance easement as an avigation easement. The district judge’s direction of the trial and his charges to the jury were based on the error, and as a consequence the easement granted was not the easement described in the declaration of taking. The cause must be remanded for a new trial. * * * There is no mention (in the declaration of taking) of the right to fly over land. In plain words, the Government seeks to acquire the right to cut trees and natural growth to a prescribed height and to remove man-made obstructions above a prescribed height. The estate therefore is sometimes referred to as ‘flight obstruction easement.’ * * * The United States Government has complete discretion in determining whether to take a clearance easement or to take an avigation easement, and upon the filing of the declaration of taking and the depositing of the estimated compensation for the taking, here $2,000, the title described in the declaration passed to the Government. The district court lacked jurisdiction to compel the United States to take an avigation easement. * * But in a condemnation proceeding courts cannot compel the United States to take and pay for an estate not described in the declaration of taking.” See, also, United States v. 64.88 Acres of Land, 244 F. 2d *819534; United States v. 4.43 Acres of Land, 137 F. Supp. 567.
I submit that the petition for taking is one for the condemnation of a flight obstruction easement only. There is no description of an avigation easement in the petition for taking. There is not one word in the petition for taking referring to the flight of aircraft over condemnee’s land. I submit that the opinion of the majority compels the Airport Authority to take and pay for an avigation easement that it did not want, that it did not ask for, and one it made no attempt to describe in its petition of taking. To impose liability for an avigation easement upon a public authority under the circumstances shown is, in my opinion, violative of the fundamental rules governing the taking of private property for a public purpose.
I do not imply that the condemnee does not have a cause of action if his property has been damaged by continuous, low-flying airplanes. See, United States v. Causby, 328 U. S. 256, 66 S. Ct. 1062, 90 L. Ed. 1206; Griggs v. County of Allegheny, 369 U. S. 84, 82 S. Ct. 531, 7 L. Ed. 2d 585. I submit, however, that the damages for which recovery may be had in the instant case are those resulting from the specific property taken in this condemnation proceeding. A condemnee cannot properly inject a claim for damages for some other taking or damaging into a condemnation proceeding for the taking of a separate and distinct property or property interest.
In my opinion the trial court erred in interpreting the taking of a flight obstruction easement as including an avigation easement. The majority opinion arrives at the same incorrect conclusion. I would reverse the judgment of the district court, with instructions to submit to the jury the question of damages for the taking of a flight obstruction easement only.
I am authorized to state that Spencer and Boslaugh, JJ., concur in this dissent.