Pearl River Val. Water Supply Dist. v. Wright, 44557

• Decision Date: 09 October 1967
• Docket Number: No. 44557,44557
• Citation: 203 So.2d 296
• Parties: PEARL RIVER VALLEY WATER SUPPLY DISTRICT v. Thomas E. WRIGHT and Mildred B. Wright
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 296

203 So.2d 296

PEARL RIVER VALLEY WATER SUPPLY DISTRICT v. Thomas E. WRIGHT and Mildred B. Wright

No. 44557.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Oct. 9, 1967.

Watkins, Pyle, Edwards & Ludlam, Clifford C. Chittim, Jackson, for appellant.

Thomas A. Coleman, Ackerman, for appellee.

PATTERSON, Justice:

This is an appeal by the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Madison County awarding appellees $97,000 for 13.8 acres of land taken by eminent domain proceedings.

The petition for the condemnation of this land was first filed on March 22, 1963. The appellees, however, secured a temporary writ of prohibition prior to the condemnation trial. On October 5, 1964, this Court upheld the order of the Circuit Court of Madison County dismissing the writ of prohibition.

Upon trial of this cause in the special court of eminent domain a judgment was entered on March 20, 1964, awarding appellees $93,000. The District appealed to the Circuit Court of Madison County where a judgment for $97,000 was rendered on November 17, 1964, after a trial de novo.

The appellant assigns as error that:

1. The value of the property condemned was erroneously determined as of the date of the trial rather than the date of the filing of the condemnation proceeding.

2. The verdict of the jury is so excessive and unreasonable and so contrary the weight of the evidence as to show bias and prejudice on the part of the jury and to shock the enlightened conscience.

3. The trial court erroneously permitted the witness Lewis Culley to testify over timely objection to the value of the property based exclusively upon the sale of individual lots in a highly developed subdivision.

The appellee-landowners request this Court to reconsider the doctrine announced in Pearl River Valley Water Supply District v. Wood, 252 Miss. 580, 172 So.2d 196 (1965), and subsequent cases which hold that in eminent domain proceedings the date of taking for purposes of evaluation of the land condemned is the date the application is filed in the special court of eminent domain. The appellees admit that if the Court adheres to the rule announced in Wood and the cases relying thereon, it will not be necessary for the Court to consider the remaining points on appeal.

The 13.8 acre tract, the subject of this suit, is a diamond shaped parcel of land located a short distance above the Pearl River Reservoir dam in Madison County. Its western boundary, 810.78 feet in length, fronts on a county road referred to in the testimony as the Old Old Canton Road, which intersects the Old Canton Road, both of which are hard surfaced, at a point approximately 1.10 miles north and west of this property. The northern boundary formerly adjoined the Natchez Trace right-of-way, but due to the relocation of this roadway the property is now approximately 400 feet from the right-of-way. The land south and east of this parcel is already owned by the appellant.

The subject land varies in elevation from 290 feet to 336 feet above mean sea level. It is rolling land, extremely well suited for residential or other purposes and was portrayed by serveral witnesses as being one of the most beautiful properties on the reservoir. The appellees' summer home, a substantial and beautiful structure, and other improvements, including a barn, a caretaker's residence, a storage house, two deep wells, and other incidental outbuildings and appropriate fences, are located there.

The first and principal assignment of error brings us to grips with the appellees' contention that we should reconsider Pearl River Valley Water Supply District v. Wood, 252 Miss. 580, 172 So.2d 196 (1965); Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Hemphill, 253 Miss. 507, 176 So.2d 282 (1965); Pearl River Valley Water Supply District v. Brown, 254 Miss. 685, 182 So.2d 384, 184 So.2d 407 (1966); and Pearl River Valley Water Supply District v. Wright, 186 So.2d 205 (Miss. 1966), holding that the institution of the suit in the special court of eminent domain is the date of the taking and that the value of the land immediately before this date is the criterion in time by which the jury evaluates the land. Appellees argue that the pronouncement of this rule in Wood was mere obiter dictum and not authority for the subsequent cases of Hemphill, Brown, and Wright. We reject this contention for the reason that the pronouncement in Wood, though not necessary to the decision, is persuasive. Some definitive time must be designated as the time of taking for the purpose of evaluating the property, and the date of the filing of eminent domain proceedings seems to us both reasonable and logical, especially when viewed with the language of this Court in Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Stout, 242 Miss. 208, 134 So.2d 467 (1961). The subsequent cases of Hemphill, Brown, and Wright simply reaffirm our opinion that a definitive time must be established for the evaluation of property. The time of trial, which appellees urge upon us as the date for the establishment of land values, is not as logical since such trial could, and often does, consume several days during which land values could fluctuate. While it is true that the condemnor might take a nonsuit or even refuse to pay the judgment after it...