Court Opinion

ID: 9768587
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 06:09:01.876565+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:45.766923
License: Public Domain

OPINION CONCURRING IN RESULT
STORCKMAN, Chief Justice.
The majority opinion justifies the refusal to admit the contract of sale in evidence solely on this ground: “To permit the evidence offered in this case to be submitted to, the jury on the issue of the market value of appellants’ land on the date of appropriation would inject such elements of speculation and conjecture as to confuse the issue and mislead the jury.” I agree with this statement. For the same reason, evidence of a sale completed before the taking could be properly excluded. The extent of the trial judge’s discretion in this area is described in 32 C.J.S., Evidence § 593(3) c, p. 742, as follows: “No general rules can be laid down as to the degree of similarity required to exist between the properties, and as to the nearness in respect of time and distance, and these matters, and the reception of evidence of sales of other property generally, rest largely in the discretion of the trial judge. Thus the evidence may in such discretion be rejected, especially when other and better evidence can be or has been produced at the hearing.” This statement of the rule is supported by City of St. Louis v. Vasquez, Mo., 341 S.W.2d 389, and In re Armory Site in Kansas City, Mo., 282 S.W.2d 464. See also 29 A C.J.S., Eminent Domain § 273(10), pp. 1209-1211.
For this reason I say that the criticism of the holding in School District of Clayton v. Kelsey, 355 Mo. 478, 196 S.W.2d 860, is entirely gratuitous and unnecessary. Even if the rule were otherwise than as stated in the Kelsey case, the trial judge in his discretion should be affirmed in excluding this evidence. I cannot agree with that part of the majority opinion which criticizes and disapproves the Kelsey case because what is said in that regard is obiter dictum and is likely to cause endless confusion. The time to reexamine the soundness of Kelsey is when it is squarely presented as the decisive factor in the ruling.
I agree with what is said in the concurring opinion of Judge Donnelly. The general rule of exclusion as stated in Kelsey appears to be sound. Furthermore, I believe it is the general policy to exclude evidence of sales made after the date of taking regardless of whether it is a completed sale or merely executory. There are sound reasons for doing so, — one of which is that the taking for public use may affect the value of comparable land in the vicinity, adversely as well as favorably. The cases relied on by Judge Finch in his dissenting opinion are all cases in which the completed sale was *557made a considerable time before the date of taking. Any change in value in such cases cannot be said to have been influenced by the use- — whether it be for a public utility or highway purposes. It is much easier to adjust the value of the land taken by working forward than to adjust by working backward from a sale made after the taking, whether it be based on a completed deed or an executory contract.
While sales of comparable land not too remote in point of time are generally admissible on the question of the value of the land being condemned, it is well recognized that discretion should be exercised by the court in preventing controversies arising on collateral matters and thus diverting the attention of the jury to minor issues. City of St. Louis v. Kisling, Mo., 318 S.W.2d 221, 226 [10]. New elements and collateral issues that would be involved in determining the value of comparable land under a contract of sale to be completed after the taking of the. land in question would be whether the contract of sale was valid and enforceable by -specific performance, whether the contract was made in good faith and whether the sale price of the land under contract was influenced either adversely or favorably by the public use for which the land in question was taken. The wisdom of the Kelsey exclusionary rule is demonstrated by the statement in the dissenting opinion of Judge Finch that, “We do not know what motivated the different format for deferring the time and method of payment.” The explanation given in the dissenting opinion apparently is not based on anything in evidence.
I can see no need for expanding the scope of evidence of value in condemnation cases to include these collateral issues and additional speculative elements. The cases demonstrate that the evidence of expert witnesses and of sales completed before the taking of the land in question is generally available and sufficient to give the jury some reliable standards on which to assess the damages.
Since I do not agree with the treatment accorded the Kelsey case in the majority opinion, I concur in the result only.