State By and Through Alabama State Docks Dept. v. Atkins

• Decision Date: 30 September 1983
• Citation: 439 So.2d 128
• Parties: STATE of Alabama, acting By and Through the ALABAMA STATE DOCKS DEPARTMENT, an Agency of the State of Alabama v. William A. ATKINS, et al. 82-197.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 128

439 So.2d 128

STATE of Alabama, acting By and Through the ALABAMA STATE DOCKS DEPARTMENT, an Agency of the State of Alabama v. William A. ATKINS, et al.

82-197.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Sept. 30, 1983.

Joseph C. Sullivan, Sr. and Joseph C. Sullivan, Jr. of Butler & Sullivan, Mobile, for appellant.

Samuel L. Stockman of Stockman & Bedsole, Mobile, for appellees.

FAULKNER, Justice.

This is an eminent domain proceeding. The question before us involves the determination of just compensation for the taking of a segment of public roadway by the State.

The subject parcel was a portion of the Dauphin Island Parkway, a public road in Mobile County. The road came to a dead end at the northern edge of the Theodore Barge Canal on the middle fork of the Deer River. The Alabama State Docks Department of the State of Alabama instituted condemnation proceedings in order to widen the canal to allow ship travel. The property in question was approximately 80 by 114 feet and comprised approximately .21 acre. Mobile County owned an easement across the property for purposes of a public road and William Atkins owned the underlying fee. The State appealed from a verdict of $21,600.00 in favor of the owners.

Numerous issues were raised on appeal. All of the issues revolve around the central question of how the parcel should be valued for purposes of eminent domain. The State sought to value the interests of the County and of Mr. Atkins separately. It argued that the County, which is merely a political subdivision of the State, is not entitled to compensation in the traditional sense for the taking of a roadway but is only entitled to any costs of providing substitute facilities. United States v. City of New York, 168 F.2d 387 (2nd Cir.1948); United States v. Des Moines County, 148 F.2d 448 (8th Cir.1945). Atkins's interest in the parcel, the State continued, should be valued in light of the easement which burdened the fee. The owners, on the other hand, sought to recover the full value of the land taken as if it were an unencumbered fee, on the theory that the defendants could join together and merge title. To allow evidence as to the extent of each owner's interest in the property would require the court, according to the owners, to "try title" to the property. A condemnation proceeding is not the proper place to try title. State v. J.E. Paterson Lumber Co., 284 Ala. 648, 227 So.2d 418 (1969).

We disagree with the State's contention that Mobile County was not entitled to compensation for the taking. In State v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 282 Ala. 303, 211 So.2d 146 (1968), the State condemned a portion of the grounds of a public high school in Jefferson County. We rejected the State's argument that since the property was owned by its political subdivision and dedicated to a public use its rededication by the legislature to a different use did not give rise to an obligation on the part of the State to compensate the board of education. We ruled that the Board of Education was entitled to just compensation for the taking. Ala. Const. § 23; Code of Alabama, § 18-1-1 et seq.

While we agree with Mobile County that it is entitled to just compensation, we note that the "substitute facilities" doctrine espoused by the State in support of its motion to dismiss Mobile County as a party defendant is applicable to the question of what constitutes "just compensation" to the county for the taking. Ordinarily, of course, market value is the measure of compensation in condemnation cases. Special problems arise, however, in eminent domain proceedings involving publicly owned property which is adapted to a special use. Since bridges, streets, sewers, parks and similar facilities are rarely sold on the open market, the "market value" test is inappropriate. Even when it is possible to establish a market value for such property, the condemnee may not be fully compensated where it must acquire substitute facilities at a greater cost than the value of the facilities taken in order to fulfill its governmental obligations. See "Note," 6 Seton Hall L.Rev. 711 (1975); 40 A.L.R.3d 143. In order to adequately compensate governmental entities for the condemnation of property specially adapted to a public use, the courts have adopted the "substitute facilities" doctrine. If a public need existed at the time of the taking which made it reasonably necessary for the condemnee to provide substitute facilities, then the cost of providing substitute facilities constitutes the measure of just compensation for the taking. County of Sarpy v. United States, 386 F.2d 453 (Ct.Cl.1967); City of Wichita v. Unified School District, 201 Kan. 110, 439 P.2d 162 (1968). When the taking is of such a nature as to obviate the need for the facility, the governmental entity, which is in the business of providing public services, suffers no loss as a result of the taking. If anything, the condemnee is relieved of the burden of maintenance. Therefore, when no substitute facilities are necessary, only nominal damages or salvage value should be awarded. Washington v. United States, 214 F.2d 33 (9th Cir.1954); California v. United States, 169 F.2d 914 (9th Cir.1948); United States v. City of New York, 168 F.2d 387 (2d Cir.1948).

In the instant case the need for a public road on the parcel in question ceased upon expansion of the canal because the segment of road in question served only as access to adjacent parcels which were also taken when the canal was widened. Since the overwhelming weight of authority is to the effect that a political subdivision is entitled to compensation for the taking of a public road only to the extent that it is necessary to provide a substitute conveyance, Washington v. United States, 214 F.2d 33, 39 (9th Cir.1954), just compensation to Mobile County for the taking in the case sub judice was nominal.

During the trial the State attempted to introduce the deed granting the county an easement for a public road. The defendants' objection to the introduction of the deed was sustained on the ground that the parcel should be valued without regard to the individual interests of the defendants. On appeal, the State argued that it should have been allowed to introduce the deed because the easement affected the value of Mr. Atkins's fee.

An argument similar to the one advanced here by the owners was rejected by the United States Supreme Court in Boston Chamber of Commerce v. City of Boston, 217 U.S. 189, 30 S.Ct. 459, 54 L.Ed. 725 (1910). In that case the city sought to condemn a parcel owned by the Chamber of Commerce. An abutting land owner, The Central Wharf and West Dock Corporation, had an easement of way, light, and air over the land in question. The owners argued that they should be allowed to recover the full value of the land taken as an unrestricted fee. The parties agreed that the value of the fee if it were unencumbered was $60,000.00, but that its value as restricted was only $5,000.00. In upholding an award for $5,000.00 the court ruled that:

"[The Constitution] does not require a parcel of land to be valued as an unencumbered whole when it is not held as an unencumbered whole. It merely requires that an owner of property taken should be paid for what is taken from him. It deals with persons, not with tracts of land. And the question is what has the owner lost, not what has the taker gained. We regard it as entirely...