Texas Public Utilities Co. v. Bass
| Decision Date | 29 June 1927 |
| Docket Number | (No. 7104.)<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL> |
| Citation | 297 S.W. 301 |
| Parties | TEXAS PUBLIC UTILITIES CO. v. BASS et al. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Milam County Court; Jeff T. Kemp, Judge.
Condemnation proceedings by the Texas Public Utilities Company against Anna F. Bass and others. From the judgment, plaintiff appeals, and defendants cross-assign error. Affirmed in part, and in part reversed and remanded.
Henderson, Kidd & Henderson, of Cameron, for appellant.
E. A. Wallace, of Cameron, for appellees.
Appellant, Texas Public Utilities Company, instituted condemnation proceedings against appellees Anna F. Bass and her husband, J. W. Bass, and William R. Fitzwilliam, as owners, and O. L. Smith, W. D. Matthews, and Jim Matthews, as tenants, of a 210-acre tract of land, to condemn a right of way or easement on and across said land for the purpose of erecting, operating, and maintaining thereon its electric transmission line. The commissioners appointed to assess the resulting damages found for the owners, Bass and Fitzwilliam, $175; for Smith, $15; and for each of the Matthews, $30; and all appellees filed objections to the findings of the commissioners. Appellant then deposited $500 in the registry of the court and went into possession of the property sought to be condemned and constructed thereon its transmission line.
By amended pleadings the appellee owners alleged that the nature, right, title, and interest condemned in the land gave appellant actual dominion, control, and usage of the entire right of way, a strip of land 50 feet on each side of the transmission line, which extended across the 210-acre tract, and containing about 9 acres of land; and that the line passed over the land diagonally and in such manner as to damage the entire tract $20 per acre, and prayed for $4,200 damages. Appellant replied that it only condemned a right of way or easement over the land on which to place its poles and string wires thereto and over the land, with right to prohibit any buildings and structures and growth, other than ordinary farm crops, from being placed or grown on the strip of land described, and with right of ingress and egress to and from the land described for the purpose of operating and maintaining its said transmission line; and the case proceeded to trial on these two issues.
On the issue of damages the jury found for the owners, Bass and Fitzwilliam, $700, as damages resulting from the condemnation; and for the tenants, O. L. Smith, $25; W. D. Matthews, $55; and Jim Matthews, $50 as damages in connection with their growing crops on the right of way described, which were injured while appellant was constructing its said transmission line; and judgments were accordingly rendered for each of the appellees against appellant.
Neither the appellant nor the appellees attack here the judgments rendered in favor of the tenants for crop damages, and each of them will be affirmed.
With reference to damages sustained by the owners, Bass and Fitzwilliam, the court submitted the following issue and instructions in connection therewith to the jury:
Appellant objected to the instructions, first, because the court did not define to the jury the meaning of the term "value of their land...
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...occupy any part of the surface of the land except the space occupied by the equipment and necessary for access thereto. Texas Public Utilities Co. v. Bass, 297 S.W. 301 (Tex.Civ.App.); see generally, note, 6 A.L.R.2d 205. Since the right-of-way does not entitle an easement holder to exclusi......
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