U.S. v. 6,162.78 Acres of Land, More or Less, Situated in Concordia Parish, State of La., 81-3183

• Citation: 680 F.2d 396
• Decision Date: 14 July 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-3183,81-3183
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. 6,162.78 ACRES OF LAND, More or Less, SITUATED IN CONCORDIA PARISH, STATE OF LOUISIANA, Defendants, and Ida Hoagland Yakey, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 396

680 F.2d 396

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. 6,162.78 ACRES OF LAND, More or Less, SITUATED IN CONCORDIA PARISH, STATE OF LOUISIANA, Defendants and Ida Hoagland Yakey, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 81-3183.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

July 14, 1982.

Frank S. Kennedy, Rellis P. Godfrey, Shreveport, La., for defendants-appellants.

Dosite H. Perkins, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Shreveport, La., Steven R. Baer, Kathryn A. Oberly, Arthur E. Gowran, Land and Natural Resources Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before GEE, RUBIN and GARZA, Circuit Judges.

GEE, Circuit Judge:

In 1977, the United States condemned 6,162.78 acres of land in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, as part of the Tensas Basin, Red River Backwater Area Mitigation Project, and deposited $250 per acre in court. In 1979, the deposit was raised to $306 per acre. On December 11, 1980, after listening to experts provided by the landowners and the government, the jury awarded $2,071,973, or approximately $336.21 per acre, as just compensation. The landowners appeal from this judgment, claiming that there was bad faith on the part of the government and that the verdict was not supported by the evidence. We find no merit in these contentions and affirm the judgment of the district court.

Most of the condemned property is in timberland and is surrounded by the Mississippi, Red, Black, and Tensas Rivers. The soil on the subject property is classified as sharkey-tunica clay, which is generally considered excellent for the production of soybeans. However, that soil, as classified by the United States Soil and Water Conservation Service, varies from Class 3 to Class 4. Class 4 soil is below 40 feet mean sea level and is considered hazardous to farm because the low elevation makes it subject to flooding. Class 3 soil is above 40 feet mean sea level. The elevation of the property taken by the government is largely from 35 to 40 feet mean sea level, and only 7.4 percent of the land acquired by the United States is above 40 feet. The major portion of the land is subject to backwater flooding because of its proximity to the Mississippi and Red Rivers.

At trial, the landowners' principal appraiser, Mr. McNew, testified that by using comparable sales he valued the subject tract at $522 per acre, including the timber. The comparable sales used by Mr. McNew were of land above 40 feet mean sea level, and two of the three comparable sales were cleared land. Mr. McNew admitted that the United States Soil and Water Conservation Service classifies land below 40 feet mean sea level as hazardous for farming and further admitted that he could not find a sale similar in terms of size, conditions, elevation, and trees to the subject tract. The landowners' second expert, Mr. Snyder, a real estate broker with no license to appraise real estate, valued the land, with timber, at $495 per acre. He used a series of small sales for comparison purposes, and his most comparable sale had an elevation ranging from eight to ten feet higher than the subject property. Finally, the landowners called a neighbor to testify regarding the soybean yields on 480 acres that he leases adjacent to appellants' land. Although he testified that the average soybean yield was 34.4 bushels per acre, he admitted that the land he farms is above the 45-foot mean sea level contour and, therefore, is significantly higher in elevation than the subject property, making his land far better for farming and less prone to flooding than the subject tract.

The government's principal appraiser, Mr. Russell, analyzed thirty sales and found three comparable sales. The first sale consisted of 7,767 acres of which 7,186 acres were in timberland, as was the subject tract, and 581 acres were cropland. The property sold in 1977 for $454 per acre with the timberland valued at $196 per acre. The elevation of the property was approximately 50 feet mean sea level. The second sale that Russell relied upon was completed on July 6, 1977, and consisted of 7,319 acres with a per-acre price of $240. The third sale consisted of 729.23 acres of cutover timberland situated immediately north of the subject tract that sold in December 1976 for $404 per acre. Mr. Russell testified that when the subject property is almost completely inundated with floodwaters, this third sale property is not, thereby demonstrating that the most comparable property to the subject tract is superior in location and elevation to the property taken by the government. Logically, it follows, he pointed out, that if the sale price of the third property was $404 per acre, the value of the subject property had to be less. Based on his analysis of comparable sale values, Mr. Russell valued the property at $280 per acre for timberland and $27 per acre for timber, for a total of $307 per acre.

The landowners argue that the jury verdict is not supported by the evidence presented. The weighing of the evidence in a condemnation proceeding is within the sole purview of the fact-finder, and it is not for this court to reweigh the evidence. Rousseaux v. United States, 394 F.2d 123, 124-25 (5th Cir. 1968). Rather, we must determine whether the verdict was within the range of the evidence. United States v. 416.81 Acres of Land, 525 F.2d 450, 454 (7th Cir. 1975). Here the jury verdict of $2,071,973 was well within the range of the evidence. Appellants' appraisals went from a high of $3,220,000 to a low of $3,052,193. The government's appraisals ranged from a high of $1,891,973 to a low of $1,704,700. A jury finding based on sharply conflicting evidence is conclusively binding here. Rousseaux, 394 F.2d at 125.

The landowners argue that the United States acted in bad faith because (1) the government supposedly instructed its appraisers as to the amount of their appraisals and used the testimony of only two of the four appraisers it had hired, (2) the government's witnesses estimated that the subject land was less valuable than the amount awarded in a condemnation trial of a neighboring tract, and (3) the comparable sales used by the government's witnesses are not considered by the landowners to be comparable.

The gist of much of the landowners' claim of bad faith is that the government placed a predetermined value on the defendants' land and improperly required its appraisers to meet that value. There is nothing in the record to support this argument. On the date of taking, the government had two separate internal appraisals in excess of the amount of just compensation that the government deposited in the registry of the court. However, these two appraisals were not approved by the Corps of Engineers, and the government's estimate of just compensation at the time the declaration of taking was filed was based on a different approved appraisal. This was acceptable procedure. There is no principle of law requiring the government to approve of, or adopt officially, any particular appraisal that it has commissioned.

The two appraisals finally relied on by the government and presented at trial were independent appraisals. Mr. Russell was specifically questioned as to whether he had any goal in mind at the time he started his appraisal, and he responded, "(o)nly the truth." He...