United States v. 269 Acres, More or Less, Located in Beaufort Cnty.
| Decision Date | 16 April 2021 |
| Docket Number | No. 19-2212, No. 20-1226, No. 20-1281,19-2212 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff – Appellant, v. 269 ACRES, MORE OR LESS, LOCATED IN BEAUFORT COUNTY, State of SOUTH CAROLINA; Harold E. Trask, Jr.; John Donald Trask; James Heide Trask; Margaret Scheper Trask; William D. Trask, Jr., as Trustee of the William D. Trask, Jr. Trust under Article Nine of the William D. Trask Revocable Trust dated February 17, 2000; Sarah T. Burrus, as Trustee of the Sarah T. Burrus Trust under Article Nine of the William D. Trask Revocable Trust dated February 17, 2000; Robert Edward L. Holt, III, as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust and as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust-Marital both under the Last Will and Testament of Kitty Trask Holt dated June 8, 2004; Robert Edward L. Holt, III, as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust and as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust (EI#26-6501159) under the Last Will and Testament of Kitty Trask Holt dated June 8, 2004; South Carolina Department of Revenue, Defendants – Appellees, and Beaufort County Assessor; Internal Revenue Service, Defendants. United States of America, Plaintiff – Appellant, v. 269 Acres, More or Less, Located in Beaufort County, State of South Carolina; Harold E. Trask, Jr.; John Donald Trask; James Heide Trask; Margaret Scheper Trask; William D. Trask, Jr., as Trustee of the William D. Trask, Jr. Trust under Article Nine of the William D. Trask Revocable Trust dated February 17, 2000; Sarah T. Burrus, as Trustee of the Sarah T. Burrus Trust under Article Nine of the William D. Trask Revocable Trust dated February 17, 2000; Robert Edward L. Holt, III, as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust and as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust-Marital both under the Last Will and Testament of Kitty Trask Holt dated June 8, 2004; Robert Edward L. Holt, III, as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust and as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust (EI#26-6501159) under the Last Will and Testament of Kitty Trask Holt dated June 8, 2004; South Carolina Department of Revenue, Defendants – Appellees, and Beaufort County Assessor; Internal Revenue Service, Defendants. United States of America, Plaintiff – Appellee, v. 269 Acres, More or Less, Located in Beaufort County, State of South Carolina; Harold E. Trask, Jr.; John Donald Trask; James Heide Trask; Margaret Scheper Trask; William D. Trask, Jr., as Trustee of the William D. Trask, Jr. Trust under Article Nine of the William D. Trask Revocable Trust dated February 17, 2000; Sarah T. Burrus, as Trustee of the Sarah T. Burrus Trust under Article Nine of the William D. Trask Revocable Trust dated February 17, 2000; Robert Edward L. Holt, III, as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust and as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust-Marital both under the Last Will and Testament of Kitty Trask Holt dated June 8, 2004; Robert Edward L. Holt, III, as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust and as Trustee of the Kitty Trask Holt Family Trust (EI#26-6501159) under the Last Will and Testament of Kitty Trask Holt dated June 8, 2004, Defendants – Appellants, and Beaufort County Assessor; South Carolina Department of Revenue; Internal Revenue Service, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
ARGUED: Jeffrey Steven Beelaert, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellant/Cross-Appellee. Paul Allen Dominick, NEXSEN PRUET, LLC, Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellees/Cross-Appellants. ON BRIEF: Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Assistant Attorney General, Eric Grant, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Daniel W. Kastner, Richard McMurtray, Environment and Natural Resources Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Peter M. McCoy, Jr., United States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina, Lee E. Berlinsky, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee. Alexandra H. Austin, NEXSEN PRUET, LLC, Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellees/Cross-Appellants.
Before KING, WYNN, and RICHARDSON, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed in part and reversed in part by published opinion. Judge Richardson wrote the opinion, in which Judge King and Judge Wynn joined.
Deference to a district court's factual findings is vital to our judicial system. Our deference respects the superior competence of local fact finders in reviewing the evidence while also promoting judicial economy. This appeal turns on that deference.
After a trial before a three-member land commission, a district court awarded compensation to Landowners after the government took an easement on their land, which is near a U.S. Marine Corps airbase in Beaufort, South Carolina. See U.S. Const. amend. V. The district court awarded the Landowners $4.4 million, apportioned attorney's fees and litigation costs, and split the cost of the commission.
The government challenges the amount the district court awarded in compensation and the award of attorney's fees. The Landowners cross-appealed to dispute the district court's apportionment of the attorney's fees and the commission costs.
Although we might have decided this case differently in the first instance, the deference we afford to the district court compels us to affirm its award of just compensation. See Anderson v. Bessemer City , 470 U.S. 564, 573–74, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985) ().
Similarly, we cannot say the court abused its discretion in splitting the commission costs. But we do find that the district court legally erred in awarding attorney's fees to the Landowners as the "prevailing party" in this litigation. See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). So we affirm in part and reverse in part.
In 2016, the federal government filed an action to impose a permanent easement on 269.22 acres of land in Beaufort, South Carolina. See 10 U.S.C. § 2663 ; 40 U.S.C. §§ 3113 – 3114. The land is near a busy Marine Corps Air Station where the government trains fighter pilots. The easement restricts development in the military jets' flight paths to ensure pilot and civilian safety, as takeoff and landing is the most dangerous part of training. Along with the action imposing the easement, the government deposited $1,091,000 with the district court as an estimate of the condemned property's value. The court appointed a three-member land commission that conducted a bench trial to determine how much compensation the government owed the Landowners. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 71.1(h)(2). After the commission recommended just compensation of $5,311,313, the district court reviewed the evidence de novo and awarded the Landowners $4,441,410. See United States v. 269 Acres , No. 9:16-2550-RMG, 2019 WL 1450578, at *6 (D.S.C. Apr. 2, 2019). The district court also awarded the eligible Landowner attorney's fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act and split the cost of the commission equally between the government and the Landowners. United States v. 269 Acres , No. 9:16-2550-RMG, 2020 WL 219792, at *11 (D.S.C. Jan. 15, 2020). The government appealed the amount of compensation and the award of attorney's fees, and the Landowners cross appealed based on the court's apportionment of attorney's fees and commission costs.
The Property, which the Landowners' family has owned in fee simple since the mid-fifties, consists of two parcels. One parcel is 446.33 acres zoned for industrial use ("Industrial Parcel"), of which the restrictive easement covers 179 acres. The second parcel is 90.22 acres zoned for residential use of up to one house per three acres ("Residential Parcel"), which is entirely covered by the restrictive easement.1
The Property is undeveloped land that has been used for farming, recreation, and timber. It is bisected by power lines, and, while it has access to municipal utilities, those utilities are not connected to the Property. The Property also has significant road frontage on Parker Drive, a newly paved two-lane road less than twenty miles from Interstate-95. It sits within the Marine Corps Air Station Overlay Zone, an area where activities that may interfere with flight patterns are limited by a Beaufort County ordinance: For example, that ordinance limits activities that produce smoke, glare, or electronic signals or attract waterfowl.
The easement is quite restrictive, prohibiting the property's subdivision, human habitation, the installation of any structures or obstructions taller than 120 feet, activities that attract birds or produce visual hazards like smoke or glare, for-profit recreational activities, and activities that encourage more than 10 people to gather. The Landowners retain all responsibilities of land ownership and must bear all costs and liabilities "of any kind related to the ownership and maintenance of the [Encumbered Property]." J.A. 54. And even using the property for approved activities sometimes requires approval from the Navy.
At trial, the Landowners called an expert appraiser, Thomas Hartnett, and put forth their own lay appraisal of the fair value of the easement on the Industrial Parcel.
Hartnett concluded that the highest and best use of the Industrial Parcel was light industrial development. In his view, Beaufort was a "growing community" that he compared to "Charleston 25 years ago, or 20 years ago." J.A. 234. Even so, he admitted that he did not know of any serious demand for the parcel or how far in the future such demand may manifest. Hartnett found no comparable arm's-length sales in Beaufort County and so relied on four land sales that took place outside the county, three in Berkeley County and one in Charleston County. For these sales, he applied downward...
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Elbert v. United States Dep't of Agric.
...Beaufort Cnty., S.C., No. 9:16-2550, 2020 WL 219792, at *9 (D.S.C. Jan. 15, 2020), aff'd in part, rev'd in part on other grounds, 995 F.3d 152 (4th Cir. 2021) (collecting cases). The Court finds this to be an approach in this case and will grant four-fifths of any applicable attorneys' fees......