Van Horn v. Iowa Public Service Co.
| Decision Date | 15 December 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 54078,54078 |
| Citation | 182 N.W.2d 365 |
| Parties | Robert H. VAN HORN and Phyllis Van Horn, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, and Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S., Appellants. Vivian WILLEY, Bob B. Bish and Barbara Bish, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, Appellant. Carney H. CONNER and Margaret Conner, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY and Federal Land Bank of Omaha, Appellants. Charles T. CONNER and Alma Conner, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, Prudential Insurance Company of America, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Appellants. Louie B. CONNER and Esther L. Conner, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, Prudential Insurance Company of America, Appellants. Warren CONNER and Madge Conner, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, a corporation, and Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa, Appellants. Lillian B. HEBBEL and Edith E. Hebbel, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, a corporation, the Federal Land Bank of Omaha, Appellants. Luella S. EVARTS, Donald W. Pratt and Pauline E. Pratt, Ralph C. Sherwin and Ruth E. Sherwin, Appellees, v. IOWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Bruce M. Snell, Jr., Ida Grove, for appellant.
George H. Clark, Ames, for appellees.
Eight appeals by Iowa Public Service Company from ascertainment of damages made by the district court in appeals by landowners to that court from assessment of the sheriff's commission in condemnation proceedings have been consolidated by permission for review in this court.
Appellant will be referred to as defendant.
Defendant, with the approval of the state commerce commission, chapter 489, Iowa Code, 1966, exercised power of eminent domain to obtain right-of-way for construction and maintenance of electric transmission line in Glidden and Grant townships in Carroll county. Commissioners were appointed, chapter 472, and made reports separately assessing damages to lands or interests involved. Eight owners of nine tracts, being dissatisfied with the awards made by the sheriff's commission, appealed to the district court. A jury being waived in each case, damages were ascertained by one member of the Carroll district court in five cases heard by him and damages were determined in three tried before another judge, Code section 472.23.
I. Farms involved lie within an area four miles long east and west and one mile wide. The first three appeals stemming from the Van Horn, Bish and Carney Conner condemnations were consolidated and first tried in the district court since each consisted of our 40-acre tracts in a line north and south, a mile long and 80 rods wide. Defendant condemned an easement 91 feet in with along the east and west half-section line (the dividing line between the north and south eighties) of each of these farms and erected two-pole structures, built like an 'H,' approximately 660 feet apart for its lines and facilities with necessary overhand of conductors and line clearances.
On the Van Horn tract two H-pole structures were erected, one in the fence line, the other in the center of the farm, east and west and north and south. The Bish farm is crossed in the same manner with one H-pole structure in the east fence line and the other in the center. In the Carney Conner tract the condemnation procedure proposed two H-pole structures on his land but only one was erected, the right to the other location was abandoned during trial. See Fanning v. Mapco, Inc., a corporation, 181 N.W.2d 190 (Iowa, filed November 10, 1970). A county drainage ditch runs through the Carney Conner farm north and south. The utility pole structure is one the bank of the ditch but on cultivated land. Here, the span between structures is approximately 990 feet.
In the Van Horn case damages were fixed at $4750 for one H-pole structure in the fence line, one in the middle of the farm and the easement previously described. In the Bish case for one structure in the center of the farm, one in the east fence line and a similar easement damages were ascertained at $4750 and in the Carney Conner case damages were fixed at $3750 for one structure on the bank of the drainage ditch and the easement condemned for right-of-way.
The Charles (Tom) Conner and Louie Conner appeals were consolidated and next tried to the same court. The Charles Conner lands consisted of 645 acres in a compact unit, the east three quarter sections, each a mile long and 80 rods wide in section 14, 80 acres in the northwest quarter of section 13 and 85 acres across the road north in section 11. In this instance defendant condemned an easement 91 feet in width for a distance of 240 rods east and west across the land in section 14 following a fence line between the north and south half section. It constructed six H-pole structures with necessary overhanging of conductors and line clearances. One pole of each structure is within one foot of the fence line with the other pole about 15 feet in the field. One 'H' structure is near the east fence or property line.
Defendant also condemned an easement thirty-six and one-half feet in width over a distance of 160 rods along the south line of Conner's easterly 80 in section 13 for overhang for necessary conductors and line clearances from two H-pole structures located on abutting property to the south.
The court ascertained damages to the Charles Conner farm to be $15,500 for one structure in an established fence line, five structures with one pole each in a fence line and the other pole in the field, the easements described for overhang along the south line of the 80 and the easement 91 feet in width over 240 rods on the 480-acre tract.
The Louie Conner land consisted of a quarter section in the northwest quarter of section 18. Here defendant condemned an easement thirty-six and one-half feet in width over a distance of 160 rods for overhang for necessary conductors and line clearances from four H-pole structures located on abutting property to the south. Damages were ascertained to be $4250.
As indicated, the other three cases were consolidated and heard and determined by another judge. These were designated as the Warren Conner, Hebbel and Evarts appeals. The same transmission line on the same half-section line is involved.
The Warren Conner land consists of 240 acres, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 13 and the northwest quarter of section 24. An east and west road separates the north 80 from the south 160. The transmission line involved here is on the north boundary line of the north 80; that is, the half-section line of section 13. There are two sets of H-poles within a foot to 18 inches of the fence. The condemnation was for an easement fifty-four and one-half feet in width for the poles, wires and overhang over 80 rods. There was no other encroachment. The transmission line of the condemned easement was one-half mile away and was separated by a public road and another transmission line from the south 160 acres. Damages were ascertained at $3850.
The Hebbel land consists of 160 acres in the southeast quarter of section 13. The transmission line is on the north line of the farm. The condemnation involves the north fifty-four and ohe-half feet for four H-pole structures, necessary overhang of crossarms, conductors and clearances. The easement is over a distance of 160 rods. The first structure is on the east fence line. The other three are about 40 rods apart from east to west. Damages were ascertained to be $5750.
The Evarts land consists of two noncontiguous 80-acre tracts, each the subject of a separate condemnation. At the nearest point they are 80 rods, or one-fourth mile apart. The tracts are described as the east half of the southwest quarter of section 13 and the east half of the northeast quarter of section 13. They are not operated as a single until. The condemnation for easement across the south end of the northeast 80 covered the south thirty-six and one-half feet for overhang of two H-pole structures, crossarms, conductors and line clearances. There are no poles or structures thereon. Across the north end of the southeast 80 the easement covered the north fifty-four and one-half feet for two H-pole structures and necessary overhang. Each easement is over a distance of 80 rods. One award of $4000 was given for both condemnations.
There is a clearance of 27 feet for overhanging wires in each case.
II. The sole question determined in the appeals to the district court was the amounts of damages sustained by the respective landowners to each of the farms affected by condemnation for easements over which poles, lines and facilities were constructed and are to be maintained.
Defendant admits condemnees may recover such damages as they have suffered and concedes each of the farms involved in these appeals is a good farm. Its complaint is the amount awarded. It recognizes, in urging reversal or in the alternative remittiturs down to reasonable amounts, condemnation proceedings are tried as ordinary proceedings; and on appeal in a law action tried to the court its findings of fact have the effect of a special verdict and are equivalent to a jury verdict and if supported by substantial evidence and justified as a matter of law, the judgment will not be disturbed on appeal. Rule 334(f)(1), Rules of Civil Procedure.
Defendant maintains the court erred in overruling its objections to receiving in evidence four photographs purporting to show how construction of poles and lines on the Van Horn farm affected use of a tractor and farm equipment in cultivating the land. In other assignments defendant insists the court erred in admitting and considering opinions as to reduced value based on faulty premises and improper elements of damages and that the awards are excessive.
III. As stated, defendant's first assignment involves plaintiffs' offer of two pictures of a tractor drawing a fertilizer spreader in the area of H-pole...
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