Texas Dot v. City of Sunset Valley

• Decision Date: 30 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. 03-00-00744-CV.,03-00-00744-CV.
• Citation: 92 S.W.3d 540
• Parties: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Michael W. Behrens, Robert L. Nichols, John W. Johnson, and Ric Williamson, Appellants, v. CITY OF SUNSET VALLEY, Terrance R. Cowan, and Donald Hurwitz, Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 540

92 S.W.3d 540

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Michael W. Behrens, Robert L. Nichols, John W. Johnson, and Ric Williamson, Appellants, v. CITY OF SUNSET VALLEY, Terrance R. Cowan, and Donald Hurwitz, Appellees.

No. 03-00-00744-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Austin.

August 30, 2002.

Supplemental Opinion on Rehearing December 5, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kristina W. Silcocks, Ronda Leigh Neff, Rodney D. Parrott, John Stephen Toland, Assistant Attorneys General, Austin, for Appellants.

James C. Harrington, Texas Civil Rights Project, Austin, for Terrance R. Cowan and Donald Hurwitz.

Brad Rockwell, Scanlan, Buckle & Young, P.C., Austin, for City of Sunset.

Before Chief Justice ABOUSSIE, Justices YEAKEL and PURYEAR.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

MARILYN ABOUSSIE, Chief Justice.

Our opinion and judgment issued on June 13, 2002, are withdrawn, and the following opinion is substituted.

In this inverse condemnation proceeding, the Texas Department of Transportation ("TxDOT") and its named officials appeal the district court's final judgment in favor of the City of Sunset Valley and intervenors Terrance Cowan and Donald Hurwitz. In five issues, TxDOT contends that (1) Sunset Valley is not a "person," and is therefore not entitled to the protections of article 1, section 17 of the Texas Constitution; (2) the district court erred by excluding evidence of a settlement agreement between Sunset Valley and third parties; (3) the district court erred by rendering a declaratory judgment that TxDOT failed to comply with certain sections of the administrative code; (4) Cowan and Hurwitz do not have standing to assert equal protection claims against the state; and (5) Cowan's nuisance claim is barred by sovereign immunity. In light of our disposition of TxDOT's first issue, we will reverse the damage award as to the amount necessary to compensate appellees adequately for the reasonable cost of a substitute road facility and remand the case for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion. We will also reverse the district court's judgment as to TxDOT's third issue and render judgment denying Sunset Valley's claim for declaratory relief regarding TxDOT's compliance with the administrative code. The district court's judgment in all other respects will be affirmed.

BACKGROUND

In 1991 and 1992, TxDOT occupied and destroyed a section of Jones Road, one of Sunset Valley's major municipal arteries, in the process of expanding U.S. Highway 290. As a result of this highway expansion, transportation in and around Sunset Valley was significantly hindered, and the city found it necessary to construct a substitute street at its own expense. In addition, Sunset Valley complained that TxDOT's expansion of Highway 290 violated state pollution regulations. Further, the city objected to TxDOT's use of high mast floodlights for highway lighting and alleged that they were a nuisance to motorists and area home owners. Finally, Sunset Valley was dissatisfied with the expansion project because TxDOT failed to provide city limit and exit signs on the portion of Highway 290 in the city limits.

In May 1998, Sunset Valley filed suit against TxDOT. Cowan, the City's mayor, and Hurwitz, a city council member, intervened in the suit. TxDOT filed a plea to the jurisdiction which the district court denied. TxDOT brought an interlocutory appeal to this Court, arguing

(1) that Sunset Valley lacks standing to sue for inverse condemnation, (2) that Sunset Valley lacks standing to bring its claims for damages resulting from increased circuity of travel and noise and light pollution, and (3) that TxDOT is immune from suit for declaratory relief by virtue of the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Texas Dep't of Transp. v. City of Sunset Valley, 8 S.W.3d 727, 733 (Tex.App.-Austin 1999, no pet.). We affirmed the district court's denial of TxDOT's plea, and the cause proceeded to trial.

Following a jury trial, the district court awarded Sunset Valley the following relief: (1) $836,192.80 for the cost of a substitute road through Sunset Valley; (2) $810,978.60 in prejudgment interest; (3) a declaratory judgment that TxDOT violated administrative regulations relating to noise and lighting; (4) an injunction to abate the private nuisance caused by lighting on Highway 290; and (5) $34,075 in attorney's fees. The district court also awarded Cowan and Hurwitz the following relief: (1) $3,648 in damages and an injunction to abate private nuisance; (2) a declaratory judgment that TxDOT violated administrative regulations relating to noise and lighting; (3) a declaratory judgment and injunction for equal protection violations arising from the use of floodlights and failure to erect city limit signs; and (4) $7,000 in attorney's fees. TxDOT appeals the judgment.

DISCUSSION

Inverse Condemnation

In its first issue, TxDOT contends that Sunset Valley is not a "person" under article 1, section 17 of the Texas Constitution, and therefore is not entitled to the protections of that provision.¹ However, the judgment recites two additional grounds for the district court's ruling on Sunset Valley's inverse condemnation claim:

Having considered the claim of inverse condemnation, the Court finds that:

a. Defendants occupied and appropriated a portion of Jones Road from the Plaintiff City of Sunset Valley, and destroyed Jones Road where it intersects with Brodie Lane;

b. This occupation, appropriation and destruction was uncompensated and in violation of the Texas Transportation Code, the Texas common law of trespass and nuisance and Art. I, § 17 of the Texas Constitution....

When a separate and independent ground that supports a judgment is not challenged on appeal, the appellate court must affirm the lower court's judgment. San Antonio Press v. Custom Bilt Mach., 852 S.W.2d 64, 65 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1993, no writ); Herndon v. First Nat'l Bank of Tulia, 802 S.W.2d 396, 400 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 1991, writ denied); see also Nobility Homes of Tex., Inc. v. Shivers, 557 S.W.2d 77, 83 (Tex.1977). Because TxDOT does not challenge the district court's ruling that TxDOT's occupation, appropriation and destruction of Jones Road was in violation of the transportation code² and the common law of trespass and nuisance, we must affirm the district court's judgment on these unchallenged, separate, and independent grounds.

Even if TxDOT had challenged all three grounds for the district court's ruling on appeal, Conclusion of Law No. 6 states "The occupation, appropriation and destruction of Jones Road without compensation to the City of Sunset Valley violated the Texas Transportation Code." Conclusions of law will be upheld on appeal if the judgment can be sustained on any legal theory supported by the evidence. Westech Eng'g, Inc. v. Clearwater Constructors, Inc., 835 S.W.2d 190, 196 (Tex.App.-Austin 1992, no writ). Incorrect conclusions of law will not require reversal, however, if the controlling findings of fact will support a correct legal theory. Id.; Valencia v. Garza, 765 S.W.2d 893, 898 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1989, no writ). Moreover, conclusions of law may not be reversed unless they are erroneous as a matter of law. Westech, 835 S.W.2d at 196.

Section 203.058(a) of the transportation code requires TxDOT to pay adequate compensation to a state agency for the acquisition of that agency's property:

If the acquisition of real property, property rights, or material by the department from a state agency under this subchapter will deprive the agency of a thing of value to the agency in the exercise of its functions, adequate compensation for the real property, property rights, or material shall be made.

Tex. Transp. Code Ann. § 203.058(a) (West 1999). The transportation code defines "state agency" as "a department or agency of this state." Id. § 203.001(4). The Texas Supreme Court has held that municipal corporations such as Sunset Valley are agencies of the State. See Proctor v. Andrews, 972 S.W.2d 729, 734 (Tex. 1998) ("Municipal corporations [including home rule cities] are created for the exercise of certain functions of government.... In so far as their character is governmental, they are agencies of the state, and subject to state control."). Section 203.058(a), therefore, clearly entitles Sunset Valley to adequate compensation for TxDOT's "occupation, appropriation and destruction of Jones Road." In light of the standards set out above, we cannot say that Conclusion of Law No. 6 is erroneous. Because TxDOT failed to challenge all three grounds for the district court's ruling on appeal, and because we hold that the judgment can be upheld on the ground that the transportation code entitles Sunset Valley to adequate compensation, we overrule TxDOT's first issue. See TEX. R.APP. P. 47.1.

However, section 203.058(e) of the code provides that the amount of adequate compensation paid to a state agency is to be determined by the General Land Office: "If the department and state agency are unable to agree on adequate compensation, the General Land Office shall determine the fair, equitable, and realistic compensation to be paid." Tex. Transp. Code Ann. § 203.058(e). Jurisdiction can be raised at any point in the proceedings by either the parties or the court sua sponte. Texas Ass'n of Bus. v. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 446 (Tex.1993); Buffalo Royalty Corp. v. Enron Corp., 906 S.W.2d 275, 277 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 1995, no writ). While section 203.058(e) does not deprive the district court of jurisdiction to determine whether Sunset Valley is entitled to adequate compensation, the district court did not have jurisdiction to decide how much compensation the city is entitled to receive. See Tex. Transp. Code Ann. § 203.058(e). Therefore, we reverse the district court's damage award and remand the case accordingly.

Exclusion of Evidence

In its second issue, TxDOT contends that the trial court abused its...