Court Opinion

ID: 9794786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:11:36.866971+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:20:37.402871
License: Public Domain

The opinion of the court was delivered by
Hall, J.:
This is a condemnation appeal.
The Kansas Turnpike Authority instituted an eminent domain proceeding by virtue of its authority under G. S. 1949, 26-102, et seq., as amended by G. S. 1955 Supp., 26-102.
The proceeding involved several contiguous tracts of land comprising a single parcel of some 85 acres owned by appellee Georgia B. Jenkins, subject to certain tenancies of Mike Gregar, Joe Gregar, Thomas Gooch and Kansas Industries, Inc., formerly Mineral Products Company.
Thomas Gooch was a tenant in a house located on the property. Mike Gregar and Joe Gregar had agreements with the landowner, Georgia B. Jenkins, and were doing small scale quarrying of rock on the property.
The Kansas Industries, Inc., had a royalty lease on the entire acreage for the mining and excavating of clay which it used for making an aggregate in the manufacture of light-weight building blocks in a plant located nearby.
Appraisers were appointed by the court who made their report of appraisement. Thereafter, and within the time provided by statute, the Kansas Turnpike Authority, Georgia B. Jenkins, Kansas Industries, Inc., Joe Gregar and Mike Gregar filed separate notices of appeal. Thomas Gooch did not appeal.
Thereafter, one Glen H. Price filed an application for leave to intervene and a petition of interplea in the Georgia B. Jenkins docketed action. He alleged he had a pasture lease on the land under condemnation but was not named as a party because his lease was not of record.
The appeals were docketed separately with numbers 93250-A, 93263-A and 93284-A. On the opening of court all parties announced themselves ready for trial and the Kansas Turnpike Authority then filed its motion to consolidate all of the appeals for the purpose of trial for the reason that all of the parties who appealed had a claimed estate or interest in and to the same parcel or tract of land, to wit: The 85 acres under condemnation.
*864The Kansas Turnpike Authority also moved to dismiss the intervening petition and petition of interplea of Glen H. Price.
The trial court overruled the motion to consolidate, allowed the petition to intervene and the petition of interplea of Glen H. Price and ordered the same be docketed as a separate action.
The Kansas Turnpike Authority now appeals from the trial court’s order overruling its motion to consolidate the appeals of Georgia R. Jenkins, the Kansas Turnpike Authority and Kansas Industries, Ino,
The court dismissed the appeals of Mike and Joe Gregar and the Kansas Turnpike Authority’s appeals as to them for the reason that a dispute no longer existed between them. The appeals were dismissed without prejudice. Upon motion of Mike and Joe Gregar the court also ordered the distribution of $3,808.80 to each out of the funds deposited by the Kansas Turnpike Authority.
The case was argued before this court in the May session. It was conceded by the parties to the appeal that the Moore v. Kansas Turnpike Authority, 181 Kan. 51, 310 P. 2d 199, decision on which a motion for rehearing was pending, would be determinative of the case.
Following Moore v. Kansas Turnpike Authority, 181 Kan. 840, 317 P. 2d 384, this day decided on rehearing: (1) The question before the district court on the motion of the Authority was not whether the separate appeals of the landowner, the tenants, and the Authority should be consolidated for trial, but whether they could be severed when appeal is taken; (2) G. S. 1955 Supp., 26-102 construed to mean that separate appeals of owners of separate interests in the same tract of land who appeal from an award of appraisers in an eminent domain proceeding cannot be severed, and that any one or all such appeals bring to the district court in its entirety the sole question of the sufficiency of the award to be tried as a single action; and (3) under the facts and circumstances of this case the court should now consolidate the separately docketed appeals for trial as a single action.
No question regarding the compromise and dismissal of the Mike and Joe Gregar appeals is raised by the parties here. In their counter abstract the appellees include the motions and orders of the court relating thereto, and make mention of them in their brief, but no cross appeal is taken. While not technically before us it must be stated that under the Moore decision, any appeal *865by the landowner, lien holder or interested party brings to the district court the determination of the total sufficiency of the award of all interests in the tract or parcel of land under condemnation. Until there has been a final award and a determination of the value of the interests of all persons entitled to share therein, as of the date of the taking, matters pertaining to the rights of parties who, prior to or after the appeal, have bargained away, by compromise or otherwise, their rights to share in the proceeds of the proportionate interest to which they might otherwise have been entitled, are not subject to appellate review. The same is true of those who have acquired such interest.
The judgment of the district court of Wyandotte County is reversed and the case remanded with directions to consolidate the separately docketed appeals and proceed with trial of all appeals as a single action to determine the sufficiency of the award.
Price, J., dissenting.