Court Opinion

ID: 9794787
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:11:36.869716+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:20:37.403837
License: Public Domain

Robb, J.
(concurring specially): I am unable to concur wholly in the opinion of the court for the reason that reference is made therein to the interests of Mike and Joe Gregar. I think mention of these interests has no place in this appeal.
This court has stated on numerous occasions that on appeal it will consider only those matters raised by the parties and properly before it unless the matter be one of jurisdiction. Since this is an in rem proceeding in eminent domain brought by a body having the power to condemn land for a public purpose (G. S. 1955 Supp. 68-2006), the only thing to be considered is the taking of the land and what is to be paid therefor. This is the universal conception of the purpose of an eminent domain proceeding and has always been the law in Kansas. I cannot see that the addition of the Kansas Turnpike Authority to the group having the power of eminent domain should work any new magic on the established law.
Whether we like it or not, the power of eminent domain is a necessary element in the law for the benefit of the public because it furnishes remuneration to a landowner whose land is taken for public use. The compensation to be paid is based on the highest and best use to which the land can be put at the time of the taking. It is computed by adding together the total value of the land actually taken from a particular landowner and the diminution in value of *866the land which remains to the owner after the taking. The land actually taken is valued at the reasonable market value thereof because the condemner stands in the shoes of a purchaser of land from the owner and the land remaining is valued by subtracting its reasonable market value immediately after the taking from its reasonable market value immediately before the taking. If different parts of the land possess certain improvements or are adapted to particular uses those can all be shown to determine the reasonable market value of the land by adding them thereto or subtracting them therefrom, as the case may be. This court should not be required to single out each separate owner of every conceivable interest in a particular parcel of land taken because to do so would be to disregard the proposition that tire total of the value of the parts of land taken in such a proceeding cannot exceed the value of the whole. The latter is a cardinal rule in any eminent domain proceeding and it takes little or no imagination to realize it could be violated by following the first-mentioned theory.
After an appeal is perfected to the district court, the parties owning an interest in land may be proper witnesses, along with experts, in showing the jury the reasonable market value. Whether those particular owners have settled with the condemner is of no concern in an appeal from the award of the appraisers in an eminent domain proceeding. This is apparent from the rule that the original proceeding in eminent domain is not to be referred to in an appeal to the district court from the appraisers’ award. After the whole award has been determined, then it is apportioned among the different interest-holders as each interest has been made to appear. If the owner of an interest has settled with the condemner and has been “paid-off,” it is unlikely that any trial court in this state would allow such interest-holder to collect more than the amount he had been willing to accept in return for his interest.
Kansas authority is plentiful in this field of the law. One of our decisions is Federal Land Bank v. State Highway Comm., 150 Kan. 187, 190, 92 P. 2d 72.
For these reasons, I think any reference to the different interests as set out in the opinion is improper and should be stricken therefrom; otherwise, I concur in the opinion.