Blue Earth County v. Stauffenberg, s. 47802 and 47858
| Citation | 264 N.W.2d 647 |
| Decision Date | 31 March 1978 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 47802 and 47858,s. 47802 and 47858 |
| Parties | COUNTY OF BLUE EARTH, Respondent, v. Jerome C. STAUFFENBERG, et al., Defendants, Rudolph C. Borchert, et al., Appellants. Rudolph C. BORCHERT, et al., Appellants, v. COUNTY OF BLUE EARTH, Respondent, E. T. Niehaus, Contractor, Defendant. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Minnesota (US) |
Syllabus by the Court
1. Property owners may not collaterally attack, under the guise of an injunctive proceeding, a district court's condemnation order made pursuant to Minn.St. 117.075.
2. District court condemnation orders under § 117.075 filed after the date of this opinion may be appealed from in accordance with Rule 103.03, Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure.
3. The trial court acted within its discretion in ordering a rehearing on a condemnation petition under § 117.075.
4. The district court's finding of public necessity for condemnation in this case was not clearly erroneous.
Tuveson & Goldman and Robert C. Tuveson, Albert Lea, O. C. Adamson II and J. Richard Bland, Minneapolis, for appellants.
John F. Corbey, County Atty., Mankato, for respondent.
Heard before ROGOSHESKE, TODD and YETKA, JJ., and considered and decided by the court en banc.
The County of Blue Earth commenced condemnation proceedings for purposes of building a road across the property of Jerome and Viola Stauffenberg. The property is under contract for deed to Rudolph and Viola Borchert. The owners challenged the public necessity of the taking and unsuccessfully petitioned this court for discretionary review of the trial court's order finding public necessity. The owners' subsequent action to enjoin the construction of the road was denied by the district court. Appeal is taken from both district court orders. We affirm.
The condemnation proceedings were initially heard in district court on May 24, 1976. On June 15, the trial judge ordered the matter set for rehearing, stating that the evidence produced was not sufficient for the court to determine the issue of public necessity. An additional hearing was held, over the objection of the owners, and the court entered its condemnation order finding public necessity and appointing commissioners. The owners' petition for discretionary review of this order was denied by our court. Thereafter, the county proceeded to award construction contracts for the proposed roadway. In March 1977, however, the owners filed an action to enjoin the construction of the road, alleging that the issue of public necessity had not been finally adjudicated. The injunction was denied and the owners bring this appeal.
The issues on appeal are:
(1) Have the owners appealed from a nonappealable order?
(2) Did the district court exceed its authority in ordering a second hearing on the county's condemnation petition?
(3) Did the district court correctly find that the proposed road construction and taking of private property was supported by public necessity?
1. The primary contention of Blue Earth County is that the property owners have appealed from a nonappealable order. In actuality, two separate appeals were consolidated for these proceedings. The original notice of appeal was based on the district court's April 11, 1977, order which denied the Borcherts' request for a permanent injunction. An amended notice of appeal purported to expand the basis of the appeal to include the district court order of September 21, 1976, which approved the proposed condemnation and appointed commissioners.
We find that the owners' action to enjoin construction of the new road was little more than an attempt to collaterally attack matters which had already been settled in the condemnation proceedings. We note that in their brief appellants do not discuss the need for an injunction as a remedial device, but instead confine their arguments to the validity of the prior condemnation proceedings. At the time this appeal was taken, however, it was well settled that a district court's condemnation order was not a final order from which an appeal could be taken. 1 We cannot permit appellants to accomplish by procedural indirection that which was otherwise unavailable to them. Accordingly, we decline to consider the validity of the September 21, 1976, order in the context of a subsequent injunctive proceeding.
2. Appellants' amended notice of appeal, however, meets the appealability issue head on, attempting as it does to secure direct appellate review of the district court's condemnation order. As noted above, our prior decisions unambiguously hold that such orders are nonappealable.
Under existing law, a party may secure appellate review of the necessity issue in only two ways. First, at the end of any condemnation proceeding, when all damages have been settled and paid and the governmental authority has taken title to the lands in question, Minn.St. 117.205 requires that a final certificate describing the land taken be filed with the clerk of court and the county recorder. This certificate is treated as a final judgment and may be appealed from like any other judgment. The public necessity of the governmental taking may be considered on such an appeal. State, by Mondale, v. Wren, Inc., 275 Minn. 259, 146 N.W.2d 547 (1966); State, by Burnquist, Attorney General, v. Fuchs, 212 Minn. 452, 4 N.W.2d 361 (1942). Although the taking may be completed when the necessity issue is finally reviewed by this court, the governmental body which took the disputed property can be compelled to return it to its previous owner.
Second, a party convinced that a non-necessary taking is being foisted upon him can petition this court for discretionary review under Rule 105.01, Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure. See, Port Authority of St. Paul v. Groppoli, 295 Minn. 1, 202 N.W.2d 371 (1972), where the district court had granted a condemnation petition and the aggrieved party was granted discretionary review by this court. The district court's ruling was ultimately reversed.
In the present case, appellants did petition this court for discretionary review on October 21, 1976, exactly 1 month after the entry of the district court's order granting the county's condemnation petition and appointing the commissioners. Discretionary review was denied. Thus, of the two avenues of review normally available, appellants have exhausted one, and the other had not yet matured when the...
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South Dakota Dept. of Transp. v. Freeman
...that the order in this case is appealable under SDCL 15-26A-3(2) as a matter of right, appellants rely on County of Blue Earth v. Stauffenberg, 264 N.W.2d 647 (Minn.1978). In Blue Earth, the court reconsidered its earlier decisions and held: "Henceforth, in a condemnation proceeding where t......
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......Industries, Intervenor, Respondent, . v. . STATE of Minnesota, County of St. Louis, et al., Lower Court . Respondents, . Jeno F. Paulucci, et ... See County of Blue Earth v. Stauffenberg, 264 N.W.2d 647 (Minn.1978). . ......
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...But a district court order finding that a proposed taking serves a public necessity is an appealable order. County of Blue Earth v. Stauffenberg, 264 N.W.2d 647, 650 (Minn.1978). The district court's conclusion that it has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this proceeding—also not a f......