Harrison v. Louisiana Highway Commission

• Decision Date: 04 November 1942
• Docket Number: 36508.
• Citation: 202 La. 345,11 So.2d 612
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: HARRISON et al. v. LOUISIANA HIGHWAY COMMISSION.

11 So.2d 612

202 La. 345

HARRISON et al. v. LOUISIANA HIGHWAY COMMISSION.

No. 36508.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

November 4, 1942

Rehearing Denied Dec. 30, 1942.

Arthur B. Hammond, Joseph A. Loret, and Knowles M Tucker, all of Baton Rouge, and E. W. & P. N. Browne, of Shreveport, for defendant-appellant.

Wise Randolph, Rendall & Freyer, Dimick & Hamilton Dickson & Denny, and Clifton F. Davis, all of Shreveport for plaintiffs-appellees.

O'NIELL Chief Justice.

The Louisiana Highway Commission is appealing from the judgments rendered in seven consolidated suits for compensation for the impairment of the value of the property of each of the plaintiffs by the construction of an approach to a bridge in front of their buildings. The plaintiffs first sued to enjoin the highway commission from constructing the approach in front of their property without having paid just and adequate compensation, as provided in section 2 of article 1 of the Constitution, for the detriment to the property. The damand for an injunction was rejected on the ground that, so far as section 2 of article 1 of the Constitution required the payment of compensation to be made in advance for the taking or damaging of private property for a public purpose, the requirement had reference only to cases where the property was to be taken or actually invaded, and not to cases where the damages would be only remote and uncertain, as in the plaintiffs' case. It was held that in such cases the owner of the property should await the construction of the public work, in order to determine whether in fact it would reduce the value of the property, and if so to what extent. See Kuhn v. Louisiana Highway Commission, 174 La. 990, 142 So. 149.

When the construction of the approach to the bridge was completed the seven property owners who are the plaintiffs in this suit, together with the owners of three other buildings similarly situated, sued the highway commission for compensation for the alleged impairment of the value of the property of each of them. The judge of the district court gave judgment for the plaintiffs in the former suits for amounts less than they claimed. On appeal by the highway commission the judgments were set aside and the suits were dismissed as of nonsuit. See Harrison v. Louisiana Highway Commission, 191 La. 839, 186 So. 354.

These suits are the renewals of seven of the ten suits which were dismissed as of nonsuit. Five of the plaintiffs are claiming less than they claimed in their former suits. For example, in the suit of Mrs. Flora D. Harrison et al. the plaintiffs claimed $15,100 in their former suit, and obtained a judgment for $7,400. In the present suit they claimed $10,000 and have obtained a judgment for $6,000. As to the suit of J. C. Simon et al. the plaintiffs' predecessors claimed $37,500 and obtained a judgment for $14,400; and in the present suit the plaintiffs claimed $27,500 and have obtained a judgment for $12,000. In the suit of Mrs. L. W. Bath et al. the plaintiffs claimed originally $11,700 and obtained a judgment for $4,000; and in the present suit they claimed $7,500 and have obtained a judgment for $3,400. In the suit of Dr. Paul D. Abramson he claimed originally $5,300 and obtained a judgment for $3,500; and in the present suit he claimed $4,000 and has obtained a judgment for $3,000. In the suit of Lena J. Schnitt et al. the plaintiffs claimed originally $36,200, plus $250 per month, and obtained a judgment for only $4,000; and in the present suit they claimed $8,000 and have obtained a judgment for $3,400. In the two other suits now before the court the plaintiffs sued for the same amount which they claimed originally. In one of the two suits Andrew Kuhn sued for $10,000 and obtained a judgment for $7,400 in thr first suit and for $6,000 in this suit; and in the other suit the Noel Estate, Inc., sued for $15,000 and obtained a judgment for $7,200 in the first suit and for $6,000 in this suit.

All of the plaintiffs' buildings are business establishments fronting on Texas Street, which is one of the principal thoroughfares in Shreveport, extending from Commerce Street at Red River a distance of seven blocks through and beyond the commercial district. Texas Street is 100 feet wide between property lines and originally had a 12-foot sidewalk on each side. The approach to the bridge crossing Red River begins at Spring Street, one block from the river, and rises gradually to the height of approximately 20 feet above Commerce Street. The approach is a solid structure of earth and concrete for about half of the distance to Commerce Street, and for the rest of the distance is constructed on trestles. The structure is of such width as to leave a traffic lane only about 17 to 19 feet wide, on each side. In the construction of the approach it was necessary to cut away part of the sidewalk on each side of the street. For a distance of about 70 feet from Commerce Street the width of the sidewalks was reduced to 5 feet 6 inches and for the remaining distance to Spring Street the width was reduced to 8 feet.

The buildings belonging to the plaintiffs are in the block between Commerce and Spring Street. One of the buildings was occupied as a wholesale establishment and the others were retail stores or saloons, patronized exclusively by people of the colored race. The measure of compensation allowed in the judgments of the district court is the dimintion in the market value of the properties, respectively, resulting from the inconvenience of having the obstruction in front of the buildings. The diminution in the market value, according to the written reasons given by the judge and the testimony upon which his judgment is founded, is based upon the reduction in the rental value of the buildings. This reduction was caused principally by the interference with traffic. The traffic lane on each side of the approach to the bridge is too narrow to permit large vehicles, such as trucks, to park or back up in front of the buildings on Texas Street anywhere between Commerce and Spring Street. The lanes are so narrow that they are necessarily one-way lanes. The traffic coming over the bridge from the Texas side must proceed as far as Spring Street, and, as the danger of the situation forbids the making of a left turn at Spring Street,--and as a U-turn to the right would compel the vehicle to drive against the traffic on that side of the approach,--it is necessary for a vehicle coming over the bridge from the Texas side to travel several blocks beyond the end of the bridge in order to have access to any one of the buildings of the plaintiffs.

The expert appraisers who testified to the reduction in the rental value of the plaintiffs' buildings took into consideration not only the inconvenience to the vehicle traffic but also the obstruction of light and air and the impairment of the view from the front of the buildings. The evidence leaves no doubt that all of these elements entered into the impairment of the value of the property of the plaintiffs. And, having reviewed the testimony on the subject, we find no good reason for taking issue with the judge as to the amount of compensation which he allowed the plaintiffs, respectively. The difficulty which we found in the appeal from the judgments rendered in the former suits was that the period in which the bridge and its approach were constructed was from the year 1931 to 1933, which period commenced near the beginning of the nation-wide depression in the value of real estate. It seemed likely that the depression had contributed in some measure to the reduction in the rental value of the plaintiffs' buildings, between the years 1931 and 1933. It was contended also by the defendant that the decadence of the property on Texas Street in the first block from the river, which had been going on ever since the steamboat days, had contributed to the loss complained of. Hence it was considered difficult if not impossible to separate the extent of the diminution in value caused by the obstruction complained of from the diminution which resulted or might have resulted from the depression or from the gradual decadence which had been going on for many years on account of the recession of the business activities further away from the river front. The expert witnesses stated positively that they based their estimates of the diminution of the market value of the buildings only upon the reduction of the rental value; and they explained that they had taken into consideration the possibility that the general depression, as well as the recession of business activities from the river front, might have contributed in some measure to the diminution in the rental value, and they said that they had made allowance for these possibilities. They showed that the business property elsewhere in Shreveport had recovered from the depression, and that the gradual decline in the value of real estate in the first block on Texas Street, which had been going on for many years since the passing of the steamboat days, had come to an end at the time when the construction complained of in these suits was commenced. To say that the evidence in these suits does not fix the loss of each of the plaintiffs with sufficient certainty would be the same as to say that it is impossible in any case like this to fix the loss with sufficient certainty to support a judgment. These suits are not actions for damages ex contractu or ex delicto. They are actions for compensation for the lawful damaging of private property for a public...