Jefferson County v. Southern Natural Gas Co.
| Decision Date | 04 June 1993 |
| Citation | 621 So.2d 1282 |
| Parties | JEFFERSON COUNTY v. SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS COMPANY. 1911985. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Charles S. Wagner, Asst. County Atty., Birmingham, for appellant.
Cathy S. Wright, Jarred O. Taylor II and Lucinda P. Cole of Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C., Birmingham, for appellee.
The defendant, Jefferson County, appeals from a judgment on a jury verdict entered for Southern Natural Gas Company ("Sonat"), in an action for damages brought pursuant to § 235 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 for a taking of, injury to, or destruction of Sonat's property for public use and for damages for tortious conduct. We affirm.
This case is fact-specific.
In 1929, Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company (hereinafter referred to as United States Steel Corporation), deeded to Sonat an easement (which was later amended in 1931), granting Sonat the right to construct, operate, maintain, and remove a pipeline. In the agreement, U.S. Steel reserved the right to grant easements to others, but expressly stated that such grants of future easements could not unreasonably interfere with Sonat's pipelines. The agreement also provided that Sonat's rights would be superior to any such rights U.S. Steel might grant to others in the future and that the character of the use of other easements "shall be in accordance with the reasonable requirements" of Sonat.
Around 1930, pursuant to the agreement with U.S. Steel, Sonat installed a pipeline. In 1961 and in 1968, Sonat obtained two additional easements from U.S. Steel to install an additional pipeline parallel to the first pipeline. According to Sonat, the two pipelines cross under Valley Creek east and upstream from where the creek flows under the Powder Plant Road bridge in Bessemer, Alabama; the pipelines were in somewhat of a "U" shape to follow the shape of the then-existing creek banks and creek bottom; and running along the north side of Valley Creek is a county road.
Sonat maintains and protects its pipelines by conducting two types of surveillance (a weekly aerial patrol and an annual foot patrol); this surveillance alerts Sonat to any problems or potential problems with the pipelines. In the early 1980's, Sonat surveillance teams noticed that some of the three-foot soil cover over part of one of the pipelines crossing under Valley Creek had begun to "scour." By 1984, approximately 20 feet of the top of the scoured pipeline could be seen in the bottom of the creek and a two- to three-foot section of that same pipeline had become scoured all the way around, so that for a short distance, water could actually pass under the pipe. However, the other 17 to 18 feet of the exposed pipeline was still securely supported by the creek bank and the creek bed. Because the pipeline was still supported by the creek bank and the creek bed, Sonat determined that it need not make repairs or adjustments to the scoured pipeline at that time. However, according to Sonat, had the scouring continued, allowing much longer lengths than the two- to three-foot sections to be suspended without any soil support, a hazard would have resulted, and Sonat then would have remedied the problem by a relatively inexpensive repair of the creek bank that entailed covering the exposed pipeline with "riprap" or other suitable material.
In 1973, the County acquired from U.S. Steel a right-of-way for drainage in Valley Creek, "subject to such easements as may exist over, across or upon said right-of-way for pipelines, transmission lines...." In July 1984, a County employee telephoned Sonat, informing Sonat that because of a flooding problem during periods of heavy rain, the County was planning to enlarge Valley Creek and add spans to Powder Plant Road bridge. The County confirmed the telephone call by letter dated July 9, 1984, advising Sonat that the County would begin the project in August. Enclosed with the letter were plans reflecting the County's proposal to widen Valley Creek to 150 feet.
Because the engineering lines of the new creek channel on the County's plan went directly through the area of Sonat's pipelines, Sonat concluded that the County's plan would take part of Sonat's right-of-way. Consequently, Sonat notified the County in writing that Sonat would have to conduct a field inspection and survey of the location "in order to determine any adjustments to the pipelines which might be required." Sonat also requested that the County not begin the project until Sonat had completed the study.
Thereafter, the County drawings were given to Sonat's engineering department. A Sonat surveyor and the head of Sonat's division over the two pipelines met with a County employee at the location of the pipelines to get a "general feel for the site." Although the head of Sonat's division over the pipelines noted the scouring of the pipeline, including the two- to three-foot open area under the pipe, he nonetheless concluded that, at that time, the scouring posed no hazard.
In late August or early September 1984, upon Sonat's completing its study of the County's proposed widening of the creek in the area of the pipelines, Sonat concluded that 80 to 90 feet of one of the pipelines and approximately 30 to 40 feet of the other pipeline would be exposed and unsupported in the air by the County's proposed project. Thus, according to Sonat, in order to accommodate the County's project and to avoid damage to the two pipelines, Sonat concluded that it would have to relocate and adjust the pipelines, at an estimated cost of $187,700. In September 1984, Sonat presented to the County engineering drawings showing the effect of the County's project on the pipelines and explaining how the pipelines would have to be relocated and adjusted to accommodate the new channel the County proposed to excavate. Sonat also informed the County of the estimated cost of the relocation and adjustments and explained that Sonat expected the County to pay for the relocation and adjustments.
The County told Sonat that the County would not pay for any pipeline relocation or adjustment; and, according to Sonat, the County told Sonat that it would simply dig the new channel up to one side of Sonat's right-of-way and begin again on the other side, thus leaving the pipelines as a "plug" in the middle of the new creek channel and "let nature take its course." Subsequently, the County began the project.
By early October 1984, aerial photographs indicated that the excavation had left Sonat's easement as a "plug" or "finger" jutting out into the new creek channel and had diverted the creek water onto a part of Sonat's pipeline not impacted by the old creek channel. Another photograph revealed that the County's heavy equipment had crossed over Sonat's pipelines in the creek bed. When the head of the division over the two pipelines saw these photographs, he became concerned over the impact of the County's project on the easement and the pipelines. He testified that this "plug" of the old creek bank would simply wash away and leave the pipelines suspended in the air, subject to buckling; that this situation constituted an unacceptable risk to Sonat and to the public; that he recommended that Sonat relocate the two pipelines in spite of the fact that the County refused payment; and that but for the County's project, Sonat would not have had to relocate the pipelines. He also testified that with respect to the preexisting scoured pipeline, if that pipeline had become more scoured in the creek bank in the future to the extent that it had become a hazard, the most Sonat would have had to do would have been to add "riprap" and other creek bank repair material, at a cost of no more than $10,000 to $15,000.
Although there was some uncertainty as to when the "plug" would wash away, according to the evidence presented by Sonat it would wash away and could do so "at any time"; therefore, Sonat said it could not take the risk that it would occur in the first year. Furthermore, Sonat's testimony and its brief on appeal indicated that it believed that it had no choice but to go ahead and relocate the pipelines to prevent the "plug" from washing away and thereby to prevent the pipeline from buckling and rupturing and causing harm to the public and disrupting the supply of natural gas to the public.
Sonat received bids for the relocation work, which consisted of removing the two existing pipelines, redigging new trenches, and putting in new pipelines to replace the old ones. The lowest bid was accepted; the project took over one month to complete and cost $186,121.22.
After relocating and adjusting the pipelines, Sonat requested that the County reimburse...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Town of Gurley v. M&N Materials, Inc.
...that sustained by the general public.’ ”240 Ala. at 527, 199 So. at 865 (final emphasis added). See also Jefferson Cnty. v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 621 So.2d 1282, 1286–87 (Ala.1993) (holding that a jury may resolve a § 235 claim only “where there is evidence of some direct physical injur......
-
Tate v. Water Works & Sewer Bd. of Oxford
...encroachment, the property owner has the burden of taking affirmative action to recover just compensation."Jefferson Cty. v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 621 So.2d 1282, 1287 (Ala.1993). Based on its determination that the Board had adversely possessed the disputed property such that it had ac......
-
Town of Gurley v. M & N Materials, Inc.
...that sustained by the general public.'"240 Ala. at 527, 199 So. at 865 (final emphasis added). See also Jefferson Cnty. v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 621 So. 2d 1282, 1286-87 (Ala. 1993) (holding that a jury may resolve a § 235 claim only "where there is evidence of some direct physical inju......
-
Housing Investors, Inc. v. City of Clanton, Ala.
...Alabama law gives property owners the right to seek compensation in an inverse condemnation proceeding. See Jefferson County v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 621 So.2d 1282 (Ala.1993); Ex parte Carter, 395 So.2d 65, 67 4. Section 1985(3) provides: "If two or more persons in any State or Territo......
-
"regulatory Takings" Claims Under the Alabama Constitution Following Town of Gurley v. M&n Materials, Inc.
...proceedings and "inverse condemnation" was explained by the Alabama Supreme Court in Jefferson County v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 621 So. 2d 1282 (Ala. 1993), by reference to a United States Supreme Court decision on the subject, as follows: In United States v. Clarke, 445 U.S. 253, 100 S.......