Fields v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, SARASOTA-MANATEE
| Decision Date | 08 July 1987 |
| Docket Number | 86-2312,Nos. 86-282,SARASOTA-MANATEE,s. 86-282 |
| Citation | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1697,512 So.2d 961 |
| Parties | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1697 Jack E. FIELDS and Mary S. Fields, Appellants, v.AIRPORT AUTHORITY, a body politic and corporate, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
S.W. Moore and Alan E. Deserio, of Brigham, Moore, Gaylord, Schuster & Sachs, Tallahassee, and Lee H. Haworth of Isphording, Korp & Muirhead, Sarasota, for appellants.
A. Lamar Matthews, Jr. and Steven D. Hutton of Williams, Parker, Harrison, Dietz & Getzen, Sarasota, for appellee.
Appellants, Jack and Mary Fields, and more than one hundred other landowners living in the vicinity of Sarasota-Bradenton Airport, brought suit against the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority alleging that overflights of aircraft flying into and out of the airport had occurred with such frequency and intensity as to have ripened into the taking of an avigational easement over their property. Appellants claimed that they were substantially deprived of the residential use of their properties due to the intrusion of vibrations, fumes, residue, and noise. They also claimed that the overflights created fear and anxiety in them.
In their complaint, appellants alleged that the noise from an increase in "jet and jet prop aircraft" from "1978 to date" at the airport "destroyed the residential use and character of their properties and also caused a substantial decrease in the market value of their properties." Appellee answered asserting three affirmative defenses: (1) appellants knew of the existence of the airport and its activities prior to the purchase of their properties; (2) appellee acquired a prescriptive easement over appellants' properties; and (3) the United States government, through its Civil Aeronautics Board which found that the area would not suffer a significant impact if the airport were deregulated, was responsible for the alleged damage to appellants' properties.
Eleven appellants testified at trial. In summary, they testified that the overflights of aircraft to and from the airport interfered with the use and enjoyment of their homes. Appellants presented two expert witnesses: Richard Klusza and Larry Sewell, both appraisers. Klusza compared the market experience of appellants' property with a comparable subdivision and found a "significant" difference in the market value and market time of appellants' property. Sewell performed a paired sales analysis and a survey of property owners living in the area and concluded that the market value of homes in appellants' area was lower than that in comparable subdivisions because of the impact of airport activity.
Appellee also presented two appraisers as expert witnesses, Roger Tegenkamp and James Doss. Tegenkamp performed appraisals of thirty-seven of appellants' homes at three different points in time and found that each of the thirty-seven homes had appreciated in value. Doss performed a market study of sales and resales of homes in appellants' area that he believed to be directly under the flight path and found that the homes were appreciating in value. He also performed a market study of appellants' area comparing market trends in appellants' homes with three other subdivisions and found that appellants' homes were comparable to homes in the other subdivisions in terms of market time and appreciation.
After reviewing voluminous evidence, the trial judge, in a nonjury trial, ruled in favor of the airport authority holding that:
This cause came on before the Court upon an action by the Plaintiffs claiming that property owned by Plaintiffs has been "taken" by the Defendant, SARASOTA-MANATEE AIRPORT AUTHORITY, without payment of just compensation as required by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and the analogous provisions of the Florida Constitution. Plaintiffs seek a mandatory injunction compelling the Airport Authority to institute eminent domain proceedings to condemn an avigational easement in the airspace above their residence due to noise, height, lights, vibrations, and fumes from aircraft utilizing the airport.
Clearly under Florida Law, the Plaintiffs are entitled to this relief if they can plead and prove the following:
(1) that aircraft invade the Plaintiffs' super adjacent airspace causing a direct and immediate interference with the use of the land; or
(2) that Plaintiffs have suffered a substantial ouster and deprivation of all beneficial use of their properties.
However, both legal theories require that Plaintiffs prove a substantial adverse impact upon the market value of their land before an injunction can be issued.
Plaintiffs in this proceeding do not allege that they have been substantially ousted and deprived of all beneficial use of their land nor were there facts proving that such was the case. The Plaintiffs in the case sub judice seek relief on the first theory of law as set forth above.
There is no doubt that airport operations have cause annoyance and intermittent disruption in varying degrees to the Plaintiffs in this action, most especially the late and deep night operations. The testimony, exhibits, and common sense dictates [sic] the conclusion that as airport operations increase, so do those operations increasingly impact upon the Plaintiffs' beneficial use and enjoyment of their respective properties.
The prayer for injunctive relief, in essence, must rise or fall on the issue as to whether or not the impact of airport operations have caused a substantial adverse impact upon the market value of the Plaintiffs' land.
As in all adversarial proceedings, there was conflicting evidence in regard to valuations and conclusions concerning those valuations of the various properties. The one fact that can be gleaned from the testimony and exhibits is that overall absolute market values in the Whitfield-Ballentine areas have shown an increase from year to year.
The question then becomes what would the value of the properties have been but for the airport and conversely, does "decreased increase" in value equate to a substantial loss in market value thus allowing the remedy of inverse condemnation. In other words, is the inverse condemnation remedy available to equalize the increase in value of Plaintiffs' property with value increases in similar property situated elsewhere?
The Court can find no cases that rules [sic] directly on this point. However, in the case of Adams v. County of Dade, 335 So.2d 594 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976), cert. denied, 344 So.2d 323 (Fla.1977) and the case of Donald W. Krichbaum and Joy P. Krichbaum v. Palm Beach County, Final Summary Judgment entered February 23, 1983, the dicta appears to suggest that there must be an actual loss in market value before the extraordinary remedy of inverse condemnation can be sustained. The Adams v. County of Dade case, supra, is very similar factually with the case sub judice. There was a real and continuing impact upon the properties surrounding the airport. However, there was substantial evidence demonstrating that not only had there been no diminution of the value of the property, but in fact, there was an increase in the value. The issue of equalized value vis a vis similar properties was brought forth in the Krichbaum v. Palm Beach case, supra, and cursorily dismissed.
From a plain reading of the above cases and other cases regarding inverse condemnation proceedings, this Court finds that "substantial loss in market value" was not and cannot be equated with a "decreased increase" in market value. Therefore, the inverse condemnation remedy is not available to equalize the increase in value of Plaintiffs' property with value increases in similar property situated elsewhere.
This Court takes a similar stance as did Honorable William C. Williams in rendering the Final Summary Judgment in the Krichbaum v. Palm Beach County case, supra, where it is stated that, ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Fields v. Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority
...under Florida law. The Second District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's holding. Fields v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, 512 So.2d 961, 965 (Fla. 2d Dist.Ct.App.1987), rev. denied, 520 So.2d 584 (Fla.1988). On May 17, 1989, homeowners filed suit in federal district court und......
-
VLX Properties, Inc. v. Southern States Utilities, Inc.
...this matter, we do not disturb his ruling that VLX had constructive notice of the pipeline easement. Fields v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, 512 So.2d 961, 964 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), rev. denied, 520 So.2d 584 (Fla.1988) (factual findings of the trial judge are entitled to weight of a ju......
-
Foster v. City of Gainesville
...this Court any proof of how that conclusion was drawn. (R. 379). The City argues that the case of Fields v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, 512 So.2d 961 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), rev. denied, 520 So.2d 584 (Fla.1988), supports the trial court's rejection of Kampe's testimony because he did n......
-
City of Atlanta v. Starke
...in value over the last several years. In support of this contention, appellant relies on the case of Fields v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Auth., 512 So.2d 961 (Fla.App.1987), in which the Florida Court of Appeals held that the " 'substantial loss in market value' " which is necessary to suppo......