Com., Dept. of Highways v. Riley

• Decision Date: 05 May 1967
• Citation: 414 S.W.2d 885
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS, Appellant, v. Byron B. RILEY and Hazel Mae Riley, wife, Appellees.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 885

414 S.W.2d 885

COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS Appellant, v. Byron B. RILEY and Hazel Mae Riley, wife, Appellees.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

May 5, 1967.

Robert Matthews, Atty. Gen., H. C. Smith, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, Strother Kiser, William O. Gilbreath, Lexington, for appellant.

Walter Patrick, Lawrenceburg, W. Earl Dean, Dean & Dean, Harrodsburg, for appellees.

HILL, Judge.

The Commonwealth appeals a judgment for $13,126 for 12.28 acres taken out of appellees' 113-acre farm for use in the construction of the Bluegrass Parkway.

Three claimed errors are assigned as justification for reversing the judgment. First, the amount of the verdict is excessive; second, the comparable sales relied on by the landowners' witnesses are not comparable to the subject property; and third, the trial court erred in refusing to exclude the landowners' witnesses from the courtroom during the giving of the testimony by an engineer for the Department of Highways.

Appellees paid $11,000 for the entire farm in 1955, but they contend they made valuable improvements thereon after its purchase. However, no improvements were taken or disturbed, except it is claimed without contradiction that the right of way taken extends so close to appellees' barn that the doors cannot be used as before the taking. The land condemned divides the farm so that 51.5 acres remain to the south of the right of way and 49.44 acres remain to the north. There is no contention that appellees cannot operate the farm as a unit after the taking. Appellees have reasonable access from one tract to the other and to the highway system by means of a new road which runs parallel with the parkway.

The county court commissioners awarded appellees $9,489, from which both parties appealed to the circuit court.

The lone witness for the Commonwealth testified the difference in the before and after value of the farm was $3,500. The two witnesses for the appellees testified the difference was $18,900 and $16,000.

The amount of the verdict represents 38 percent of the before value of the farm, as fixed by appellees' most favorable witness, while only 13 percent of the farm was taken and the improvements are all on the remaining land.

From the aerial photographs in the record, the land taken is sparsely covered woodland and the most unproductive land on the farm.

The testimony of appellees' best witness (Birdwhistell, now deceased) fixed the value of the farm before the taking at $300 per acre. Based on such value, the land taken (assuming it has equal value with the remaining land, which it does not have) would be worth approximately $3,900, which is less than one-third of the amount of the judgment.

We are mindful of the historic province of the jury in the trial of questions of fact. We are likewise cognizant of the fact that in the exercise of the extraordinary right of eminent domain...