Court Opinion

ID: 9528937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:45:28.303903+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:29.209729
License: Public Domain

Fromme, J.,
dissenting. Time will not permit an extended discussion of my dissatisfaction with the application of the rule in Syllabus ¶ 1 to the facts of this case. The evidence developed at the trial established the entire 475 acres were owned by Don F. Hogue and his wife and were held by them as a single unit. Additional facts, not mentioned in the majority opinion, should be noted.
The legal title to the 65 acre tract had been placed in the names of husband and wife as joint tenants with right of survivorship. However, the 65 acre tract was entirely surrounded, without ingress or egress, by the 410 acre tract held in the name of the husband alone. The entire 475 acres had been used by husband and wife primarily for agricultural purposes, but in 1964 a plan had been developed b> use the entire 475 acres for suburban residential development. This plan was adopted six years prior to the taking of the easement by the Kansas Power and Light Company. The Hogues had entered into an agreement with the Wakarusa Watershed District to participate in the cost of constructing a dam which would result in a 32 acre lake on the premises. They agreed to pay $42,000.00 of the total anticipated cost of $92,000.00. There had been residential development in tire general area around the 475 acres and the Hogues at the time did not know of the proposed power line easement to be acquired by the condemnor when they committed themselves to their share of the lake project costs.
The lake will enhance the value of the entire balance of the property and is located largely within the 65 acre tract which is encompassed by the 410 acre tract. Any residential development around the lake would of necessity cross the boundaries of the 65 *347acre tract and extend over into the 410 acre tract regardless of the technicalities of unity of ownership. Under the evidence developed at the trial the entire 475 acre tract was and is a single unit. The verdict of $4,932.00 for the taking of 6.8 acres out of a residential development area appears wholly inadequate.
Our constitution (Art. 12, §4) and our eminent domain statute (K. S. A. 1972 Supp. 26-513) provide that no right-of-way shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation, until full compensation therefor shall be paid. Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation. If only a part of a tract of land or interest is taken, the compensation and measure of damages are the difference between the value of the entire property or interest immediately before the taking, and the value of that portion of the tract or interest remaining immediately after the taking.
There can be little doubt in this case the 475 acres comprised one entire tract or unit. The tract had been planned for residential purposes several years prior to this taking. In the present day world this court should not permit the general rule regarding unity of ownership to thwart the constitutional and statutory law of this state requiring full compensation be paid for the taking of private property based upon the most advantageous use to which the property is reasonably adaptable. When there is a single unit of land and title is held partially in joint tenancy by husband and wife and partially by the husband alone the reason for requiring strict unity of ownership does not logically apply. The husband in such case owns an interest in the whole unit and damages from a taking will affect the value of the whole unit.
On the basis of the reasoning in the Labore case cited by the majority the jury was improperly restricted in its allowance of damages. The reasoning and rule of the Tennessee and Indiana cases cited in the majority opinion should not be adopted in Kansas. The case should be reversed for a new trial with instructions that the 475 acres be considered as an entire tract for the purpose of determining damages.
Schroeder, J., joins in the foregoing dissent.