Kinter v. United States
| Decision Date | 07 June 1946 |
| Docket Number | No. 8997.,8997. |
| Citation | 156 F.2d 5 |
| Parties | KINTER et al. v. UNITED STATES. UNITED STATES v. 875 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, DESIGNATED ADDITION TO SEGMENT "B" LETTERKENNY ORDNANCE DEPOT, FRANKLIN COUNTY, PA., et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
John C. Harrington and J. Edward Williams, Acting Head, Lands Division, both of Washington, D. C., Frederick V. Follmer, U. S. Atty., of Scranton, Pa., M. F. McDonald, Jr., Sp. Asst. to U. S. Atty., of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and Roger P. Marquis, Attys., Department of Justice, of Washington, D. C., for appellant.
Edwin D. Strite, of Chambersburg, Pa., for appellee.
Before MARIS, McLAUGHLIN and O'CONNELL, Circuit Judges.
This appeal arises out of a condemnation in fee by the United States of 875 acres in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, for use in connection with the Letterkenny Ordnance Depot.1
Dr. John H. Kinter and his wife owned 114 acres and 92.6 perches included in the area condemned. A jury trial followed a government appeal from an appraisement of $26,200 by viewers. The jury assessed the damages to the Kinters at $34,535. The government's motion for a new trial was denied in an opinion by Judge Johnson, the trial judge. D.C.M.D.Pa., 1945, 58 F. Supp. 956. This appeal resulted.
The government seeks a new trial, asserting errors in admission and exclusion of testimony, on the issue of fair market value. The matter in controversy being the right of compensation of a landowner under the Fifth Amendment, the answers to the questions involved do not depend upon local law. United States v. Miller, 1943, 317 U.S. 369, 63 S.Ct. 276, 87 L. Ed. 336, 147 A.L.R. 55; United States v. Certain Parcels of Land, 3 Cir., 1944, 144 F.2d 626, 155 A.L.R. 253; United States v. Certain Parcels of Land, 3 Cir., 1944, 145 F.2d 374, 159 A.L.R. 1. It is argued that the court below erred in allowing Dr. Kinter to state on direct examination the cost of repairs and improvements he had made on the property since its purchase. Over objection by government counsel, the trial judge admitted such testimony, limiting it to the "reasonable cost" of construction. And, in his charge, the trial judge cautioned the jury that the cost of repairs and improvements was to be considered only as a factor along with all the other evidence "in determining fair market value of the property at the time of the taking."
As stated by Mr. Justice Reed in United States v. Petty Motor Co., 327 U.S. 372, 66 S.Ct. 596, 599,
It has been said that "sales at arms length of similar property are the best evidence of market value." Welch v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 6 Cir., 1939, 108 F.2d 95, 101, certiorari denied 1939, 309 U.S. 688, 60 S.Ct. 889, 84 L.Ed. 1030. Even where there have been no sales of similar property in the vicinity upon which a basis of valuation might be predicated, the quest is still for "market value." This may be more or less than the owner's investment in his property. The government may neither confiscate his bargain nor be required to assume his loss. But, it is the "value of the interest" that is guaranteed; not the investment.
The owner may, because of his personal knowledge of the property, the uses to which it may be put, the condition of the improvements erected thereon, testify as to its market value. May he also, in the first instance, state as a lump sum the total of all costs incurred by him over a period of years for repairs and improvements as bearing upon the question of fair market value? We think not. Admittedly, cost is not synonymous with market value. A fortiori, cost of land and cost of improvements taken separately and added are not to be equalized with fair market value: cf. United States v. Certain Parcels of Land, 5 Cir., 1945, 149 F.2d 81; McSorley v. Avalon Borough School District, 1927, 291 Pa. 252, 255, 139 A. 848. Moreover, Dr. Kinter's...
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