Court Opinion

ID: 9687867
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:52:13.606224+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:57.794477
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Justice
(dissenting).
I would affirm the judgment.
Instruction No. 6, to which no objection was made by plaintiff, permitted the jury to award severance damages for the depreciation in value, “if any you shall find,” of the land remaining after the taking.
Why should the trial court have restricted severance damages to the quarter sections crossed by the easement when there was no request by the plaintiff that the jury should be so instructed? Plaintiff’s expert testified that the total value of the ranch unit was $480,000 before the taking and $476,000 after the taking. In *223other words, plaintiff itself did not try the case on the theory that damages were restricted to the seven quarter sections crossed by the power line. I do not think that our decisions would have permitted plaintiff to do so. See, e. g., State Highway Commission v. Fortune, 77 S.D. 302, 91 N.W.2d 675; State Highway Commission v. Olson, 81 S.D. 401, 136 N.W.2d 233, and State Highway Commission v. Hayes Estate, 82 S.D. 27, 140 N.W.2d 680.
I agree that the verdict is certainly generous. On the other hand, we have stated that great latitude is allowed in the reception of evidence to prove the value of property in condemnation cases. State Highway Commission v. Hayes Estate, supra. The verdict was within the range of the testimony. All in all, I cannot say that the verdict appears to have been the product of passion, prejudice or partiality.