Macsteel Div. Of Quanex v. Ark Oklahoma Gas

• Decision Date: 23 June 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-1248.,04-1248.
• Citation: 210 S.W.3d 878
• Parties: MacSTEEL DIVISION OF QUANEX, Parnell Consultants, Inc., and R & R Pipeline Construction & Repair, Inc., Appellants, v. ARKANSAS OKLAHOMA GAS CORPORATION, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

210 S.W.3d 878

MacSTEEL DIVISION OF QUANEX, Parnell Consultants, Inc., and R & R Pipeline Construction & Repair, Inc., Appellants, v. ARKANSAS OKLAHOMA GAS CORPORATION, Appellee.

No. 04-1248.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

June 23, 2005.

Cuffman & Phillips, by: Stephen K. Cuffman, Little Rock, for appellant MacSteel.

Hardin, Jesson and Terry, PLC, by: Robert M. Honea, Fort Smith, for appellant Parnell Consultants, Inc., and R & R Pipeline Construction.

Daily & Woods, PLC, by: Jerry L. Canfield, Fort Smith, for appellee.

JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice.

This is a case involving the conveyance of an easement. Appellants MacSteel, Parnell Consultants, Inc., and R & R Repair, Inc., (collectively referred to as MacSteel) appeal an order of the Sebastian County Circuit Court, Greenwood District Division V, granting summary judgment in favor of appellee Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corporation (AOG) and dismissing MacSteel's counterclaim. We assumed jurisdiction of this case as it involves an issue of statutory interpretation. See Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 1-2(b)(6). Specifically, we are asked to determine whether the conveyance of the easement at issue in this case is governed by the procedures set out in Ark.Code Ann. § 14-16-105 (Supp.2003). We hold that § 14-16-105 is applicable to the easement in this case; accordingly, we affirm.

MacSteel, a steel manufacturer with facilities located in Fort Smith Industrial Park, receives natural gas service from AOG. In early 2003, MacSteel contracted with appellant Parnell Consultants, Inc., who then contracted with appellant R & R Pipeline Construction and Repair, Inc., to construct an underground natural gas pipeline that directly connects MacSteel's plant to sources of gas from the interstate natural gas market rather than through the facilities of AOG. As part of its contract with MacSteel, Parnell Consultants requested an easement from Sebastian County to install a portion of the pipeline on lands owned by the county.

On June 23, 2003, the County Court of Sebastian County issued an order authorizing the grant of a pipeline easement to Parnell Consultants across property owned by Sebastian County for a consideration of $42,240. Pursuant to that order, Sebastian County Judge David Hudson executed and delivered the easement conveyance.

When construction of the pipeline became public, AOG filed an action in circuit court against Parnell Consultants and R & R Pipeline Construction seeking, inter alia, a declaratory judgment that the grant of easement by the Sebastian County was null and void pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 14-16-105(f)(1)(A) (Supp.2003), as the Sebastian County Court admittedly did not follow the appraisal, notice, and bidding procedures required to "sell and cause to be conveyed any real estate or personal property belonging to county."¹ MacSteel answered that § 14-16-105 did not apply to easements. Further, MacSteel counterclaimed that if the circuit court found that § 14-16-105 applied to easements, the statute likewise should apply to easements the county court granted to AOG without complying with the statute.

Both parties moved for summary judgment. For the first time, in its reply to AOG's motion for summary judgment, MacSteel contended that the conveyance was made pursuant to § 14-164-205 (Repl. 1998), which authorizes counties to sell lands for industrial development purposes and repeals § 14-16-105 to the extent that it is inconsistent.

The circuit court granted AOG's motion for summary judgment, agreeing that the easement was subject to the procedures set out in § 14-16-105. As such, the circuit court declared the easement null and void. Further, the circuit court found that the record reflected no evidence that the easement was granted by the county judge pursuant to § 14-164-205. Finally, the circuit court dismissed MacSteel's counterclaim challenging the validity of additional easements granted to AOG.

On appeal, MacSteel argues that the circuit court erred in (1) finding that the procedures of § 14-16-105 apply to MacSteel's easement, (2) finding that § 14-164-205 was inapplicable to its easement, and (3) dismissing its counterclaim that if § 14-16-105 applies to easements, additional easements granted to AOG should be declared null and void.

Section 14-16-105(a) (Supp.2003) of the Arkansas Code provides:

(a) The county court of each county shall have power and jurisdiction to sell and cause to be conveyed any real estate or personal property belonging to the county and to appropriate the proceeds of the sale for the use of the county by proceeding in the manner set forth in this section.

Pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 14-16-105(b)(1), whenever the county judge of any county shall consider it advisable and to the best interest of the county to sell and convey any real or personal property belonging to the county, he or she shall follow the procedures set out in § 14-16-105(b)(1)(A) through § 14-16-105(e). Any sale or conveyance of real or personal property belonging to any county not made pursuant to the terms of § 14-16-105 shall be null and void. See Ark.Code Ann. § 14-16-105(f)(1)(A) (Supp.2003). The procedures for sale and conveyance of county property set forth in § 14-16-105 shall not apply in these instances:

(A) Where personal property of the county is traded in on new or used equipment and credit approximating the fair market price of such personal property is given the county toward the purchase price of new equipment;

(B) Where the sale of the personal property of the county involves the sale by the county of any materials separated, collected, recovered, or created by a recycling program authorized and operated by the county; or

(C) Where the county is conveying a conservation easement as described in § 15-20-401 et seq. for any of the purposes enumerated in § 15-20-401 et seq. as the same may be amended from time to time.

Ark.Code Ann. § 14-16-105(f)(2) (Supp. 2003) (emphasis added).²

We review issues of statutory construction de novo, as it is for this court to decide what a statute means. Hodges v. Huckabee, 338 Ark. 454, 995 S.W.2d 341 (1999). In this respect, we are not bound by the decision of the trial court; however, in the absence of a showing that the trial court erred in its interpretation of the law, that interpretation will be accepted as correct on appeal. Ghegan & Ghegan, Inc. v. Barclay, 345 Ark. 514, 49 S.W.3d 652 (2001). The first rule in considering the and effect of a statute is to construe it just as it reads, giving the words their ordinary meaning and usually accepted meaning in common language. Weiss v. McFadden, 353 Ark. 868, 120 S.W.3d 545 (2003). We construe the statute so that no word is left void, superfluous, or insignificant; and meaning and effect are given to every word in the statute if possible. Ozark Gas Pipeline Corp. v. Arkansas Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 342 Ark. 591, 29 S.W.3d 730 (2000). When the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous, there is no need to resort to rules of statutory construction. Weiss v. McFadden, supra. When the meaning is not clear, we look to the language of the statute, the subject matter the object to be accomplished, the purpose to be served, the remedy provided, the legislative history, and other appropriate means that shed light on the subject. Id.

With this standard of review in mind, we turn to MacSteel's arguments on appeal. MacSteel first argues that § 14-16-105 is intended to apply only to fee simple sales of real property and, as such, the statute does not apply to easements because easements do not convey fee simple title to real property. We disagree. The statute makes no mention of a requirement of a fee simple conveyance. This court will not read into a statute a provision that simply was not included by the General Assembly. See, e.g., Primerica Life Ins. Co. v. Watson, 362 Ark. 54, 207 S.W.3d 443 (2004); Turnbough v. Mammoth Spring Sch. Dist. No. 2, 349 Ark. 341, 78 S.W.3d 89 (2002).

MacSteel next contends that we should follow the county judge's interpretation of the law in determining whether § 14-16-105 applies to easements. In his deposition, Judge Hudson testified that during his twenty-eight years of employment in county government, both as a county judge and as an administrative assistant to previous county judges, Sebastian County never followed the procedures in § 14-16-105 when granting easements over county lands. In Omega Tube & Conduit Corp. v. Maples, 312 Ark. 489, 850 S.W.2d 317 (1993), we noted that it is a familiar rule of statutory construction that the manner in which a law has been interpreted by executive and administrative officers is to be given consideration and will not be disregarded unless it is clearly wrong. We further noted that an administrative interpretation is to be regarded as highly persuasive. Id. "Such a construction, commonly referred to as practical construction, although not controlling, is nevertheless entitled to considerable weight." Walnut Grove Sch. Dist. No. 6 v. County Bd. of Educ., 204 Ark. 354, 359, 162 S.W.2d 64, 66 (1942) (quoting Crawford's Interpretation of Laws § 219 (1940)). However, although an agency's interpretation is highly persuasive, where the statute is not ambiguous, we will not interpret it to mean anything other than what it says. Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A. v. Richard's Honda Yamaha, 344 Ark. 44, 52, 38 S.W.3d 356, 360 (2001).

AOG contends that it is unnecessary to consider the county's past practice in conveying easements because the plain language of the statute provides that § 14-16-105 applies to the easement at issue, in that it applies to all sales and conveyances of real property belonging to the county. AOG points out that the type of easement at issue in this case, a pipeline right-of-way easement, is not exempted from the procedures of § 14-16-105, whereas conservation easements are exempted from the procedures of the statute. We agree. The phrase expressio unius est exclusio...