State ex rel. Morrison v. McMinn, 6644

• Decision Date: 05 October 1960
• Docket Number: No. 6644,6644
• Citation: 355 P.2d 900,88 Ariz. 261
• Parties: STATE of Arizona ex rel. Robert MORRISON, Attorney General, Appellant, v. Hulen F. McMINN and Pearl Marie McMinn, his wife, Appellees.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 900

355 P.2d 900

88 Ariz. 261

STATE of Arizona ex rel. Robert MORRISON, Attorney General, Appellant, v. Hulen F. McMINN and Pearl Marie McMinn, his wife, Appellees.

No. 6644.

Supreme Court of Arizona.

Oct. 5, 1960.

Robert Morrison, formerly Atty. Gen., and Charles L. Hardy, Asst. Atty. Gen., on the briefs; Wade Church, presently Atty. Gen., and Jay Dushoff, Asst. Atty. Gen., on oral argument, for appellant.

Carl Tenney, Phoenix, for appellees.

UDALL, Justice.

The plaintiff State of Arizona, hereinafter referred to as the State, brought an action in the superior court of Maricopa County to condemn for public use property owned by defendants. After full trial the jury returned a verdict granting the condemnation and fixing the price to be paid at $4,500 and judgment was entered thereon. Thereafter the trial court vacated the judgment and granted defendants' motion for new trial. The State appealed, alleging as sole error that the trial court abused its discretion in granting the motion.

Although defendants in their motion for new trial state numerous grounds, the trial court specified that the motion was granted because of the insufficiency of damages. We are therefore limited to that ground in reviewing the exercise of discretion by the trial court. City of Phoenix v. Harlan, 75 Ariz. 290, 255 P.2d 609.

While it is true that the granting of a new trial is to a great extent discretionary with the trial court, such discretion, although broad, is legal and not arbitrary and must be exercised according to reason and law. Kotsonaros v. State of Minn., 79 Ariz. 368, 290 P.2d 478; City of Phoenix v. Harlan, supra; Zevon v. Tennebaum, 73 Ariz. 281, 240 P.2d 548. The trial judge must of course have wide discretion because of his intimate relation to the trial and primary justice. This does not mean, however, that this court should abandon all supervision and fail to impose the limitation of legal standards on the exercise of trial court judicial discretion. Thus, where the probative force of the evidence clearly demonstrates that the verdict of the jury is correct, the trial judge exceeds the bounds of judicial discretion in granting a new trial and it is the duty of this court to reverse the action. See, Smith v. Moroney, 79 Ariz. 35, 282 P.2d 470; Bradley v. Philhower, 81 Ariz. 61, 299 P.2d 648.

After a careful examination of the record in light of these principles we have concluded that it was an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to grant the motion for new trial in this case.

The property in question is an irregularly shaped parcel located at the northeast corner of Sherman Street and 23rd Avenue, just outside the city limits of Phoenix, in a subdivision know as Sellwell. The defendant purchased the property in 1947 for $4,500. At the time of purchase there was no zoning ordinance in effect in Maricopa County and the defendant could have used his property for any lawful purpose. In 1951, the Board of Supervisors established a county zoning ordinance and the property which is the basis for this litigation, together with other adjacent property, was put in a general residential zone. In 1952 it was given an R-4 classification which permits single or multiple family homes. From the date of adoption of the zoning ordinance until the bringing of this action in 1957, the property remained in the same zone classification and no attempt had been made by the defendants or adjacent property owners to have the area rezoned for purposes other than residential. At the trial the State contended the fair market value was governed by residential use. On the other hand the defendants contended that the property was more suitable for industrial use which would have made it more valuable than if valued for residential use only.

The testimony of the State's witnesses was to the effect that the property was available only for residential purposes; that even if available for commercial or industrial purposes its irregular shape and unapproachability because of a dog-leg in the street it fronted made it undesirable for those purposes; that the streets surrounding the property were unpaved; that the building situated thereon was out of use and of little value; and that the fair market value of the property was not more than $2,500. This valuation was somewhat corroborated by defendants' witness, Blake, provided the property was to remain in R-4 zoning classification. Referring to the McMinn property, witness Blake stated, 'But to go back to R-4, which is the question you asked me, it would have to be quite low, because in the first place anyone coming in here to buy this as a residential lot would look past the corner because of the traffic, industrial right across the street, they'd want to find one here more quiet, this would be an undesirable location for a home.' The State's expert further corroborated his own testimony that the market value for this property was governed by residential use by showing the sale of some eight or nine other pieces of property in the immediate vicinity within a year of this action. Those sales...