West Virginia Dot v. Dodson Mobile Homes

• Decision Date: 17 November 2005
• Docket Number: No. 32558.,32558.
• Citation: 624 S.E.2d 468
• Parties: WEST VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Division of Highways, a West Virginia Corporation, and Fred Vankirk, Acting West Virginia Commissioner of Highways, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees, v. DODSON MOBILE HOMES SALES AND SERVICES, INC., a West Virginia Corporation, Defendant Below, Appellant.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

624 S.E.2d 468

WEST VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Division of Highways, a West Virginia Corporation, and Fred Vankirk, Acting West Virginia Commissioner of Highways, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees, v. DODSON MOBILE HOMES SALES AND SERVICES, INC., a West Virginia Corporation, Defendant Below, Appellant.

No. 32558.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted October 5, 2005.

Decided November 17, 2005.

Syllabus by the Court

1. "Where the issue on an appeal from the circuit court is clearly a question of law or involving an interpretation of a statute, we apply a de novo standard of review." Syl. Pt. 1, Chrystal R.M. v. Charlie A.L., 194 W.Va. 138, 459 S.E.2d 415 (1995).

2. "The standard of review applicable to an appeal from a motion to alter or amend a judgment, made pursuant to W.Va. R. Civ. P. 59(e), is the same standard that would apply to the underlying judgment upon which the motion is based and from which the appeal to this Court is filed." Syl. Pt. 1, Wickland v. American Travellers Life Ins., 204 W.Va. 430, 513 S.E.2d 657 (1998).

3. "Judicial interpretation of a statute is warranted only if the statute is ambiguous. . . ." Syl. Pt. 1, in part, Ohio County Comm'n v. Manchin, 171 W.Va. 552, 301 S.E.2d 183 (1983).

4. "The primary object in construing a statute is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the . . . [legislating body]". Syl. Pt. 1, in part, Smith v. State Workmen's Compensation Comm'r, 159 W.Va. 108, 219 S.E.2d 361 (1975).

5. Pursuant to the provisions of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies for Federal and Federally Assisted Programs Property Acquisition Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4601-4655 (2000), the event triggering the award of attorneys' fees in a proceeding involving inverse condemnation, as set forth in Title 49, Section 24.107 of the Code of Federal Regulations, is when "[t]he court having jurisdiction renders a judgment in favor of the owner."

Timothy M. Sirk, Keyser, for the Appellees.

Wm. Richard McCune, Jr., Wm. Richard McCune, Jr., P.L.L.C., Martinsburg, for the Appellant.

ALBRIGHT, Chief Justice:

The defendant below, Dodson Mobile Homes Sales and Services, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Appellant"), appeals the denial by the Circuit Court of Berkeley County of an award of attorneys' fees in the context of an eminent domain action pursuant to provisions of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies for Federal and Federally Assisted Programs Act (hereinafter referred to as "Property Acquisition Act" or "Act"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4601-4655 (2000). Appellees, the Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, and Fred VanKirk in his capacity as Commissioner of Highways¹ (hereinafter referred to as "State" or "State agency"), essentially contend that the lower court correctly denied the request for attorneys' fees because the statutory authority for making such award extends only to situations where a State agency has not initiated condemnation proceedings and has specifically found that the property taken was an uneconomic remnant. After careful consideration of the briefs of the parties, oral arguments, the record certified to this court and applicable law, we find the denial of attorneys' fees to be in error and so reverse the ruling of the court below.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

The attorneys' fee issue surfaced in an eminent domain proceeding filed by the State on August 21, 1995, for the purpose of determining just compensation for the acquisition and/or damage to the residue of Appellant's property due to a highway improvement project involving the relocation of West Virginia Route 9 in Berkeley County, West Virginia. Appellant is a corporation engaged in the business of selling furniture and mobile homes on the property in question. The improvements to Route 9 resulted in the construction of a road through the middle of what was originally one piece of land measuring 4.3 acres. Consequently, the single piece of property became two tracts of unequal size located on either side of the new highway. One tract was large enough to continue to accommodate the furniture store and the mobile homes sales business and the remaining tract was a .73 acre triangle-shaped parcel located across the road from these establishments. Appellant maintains that no use could be made of the smaller tract in connection with the furniture and mobile homes businesses.

During the course of the eminent domain proceedings, Appellant filed a motion seeking leave to file an amended answer so as to raise a counterclaim for inverse condemnation.² In the proposed amended answer, Appellant alleged that the.73 acre tract was an uneconomic remnant³ and sought a writ of mandamus to require the State to purchase the remnant. The court below permitted the requested amendment, and the case was tried to a jury in December 2003. The verdict form submitted to the jury contained special interrogatories, which the State did not challenge, about the .73 acre parcel. The interrogatories posed to and answered by the jury follow:⁴

Special Interrogatory 1: Is the .73 acre tract an uneconomic remnant?

Jury answered "Yes."

Special Interrogatory 2: If you have answered "Yes" to Special Interrogatory 1 above, state the sum that the State is to pay to Dodson Mobile Home Sales and Service, Inc. for the purchase of the .73 acre parcel.

Jury answered "$73,000."

As a direct result of these specific jury findings, the court below ordered the State to purchase the uneconomic remnant from Appellant for $73,000.⁵ Subsequent to the verdict and entry of judgment, Appellant brought a motion seeking award of attorneys' fees as permitted by the federal regulations promulgated under authority of the Property Acquisition Act. The court below denied Appellant's motion by order dated April 15, 2004. In a further effort to obtain the award of attorneys' fees, Appellant filed a motion to alter or amend judgment pursuant to Rule 59 of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure. This motion was likewise denied by order dated July 14, 2004. The denial of the requested attorneys' fees is the basis for the instant appeal.

II. Standard of Review

The primary issue presented in this appeal of the judgment centers on the lower court's interpretation of a statute and related federal regulation. In instances "[w]here the issue on an appeal from the circuit court is clearly a question of law or involving an interpretation of a statute, we apply a de novo standard of review." Syl. Pt. 1, Chrystal R.M. v. Charlie A.L., 194 W.Va. 138, 459 S.E.2d 415 (1995). See also Syl. Pt. 1, Appalachian Power Co. v. State Tax Dept. of West Virginia, 195 W.Va. 573, 466 S.E.2d 424 (1995) ("Interpreting a statute or an administrative rule or regulation presents a purely legal question subject to de novo review.") A de novo standard also governs our review of the lower court's treatment of the motion to alter or amend its judgment because

[t]he standard of review applicable to an appeal from a motion to alter or amend a judgment, made pursuant to W.Va. R. Civ. P. 59(e), is the same standard that would apply to the underlying judgment upon which the motion is based and from which the appeal to this Court is filed.

Syl. Pt. 1, Wickland v. American Travellers Life Ins., 204 W.Va. 430, 513 S.E.2d 657 (1998).

III. Discussion

Appellant maintains that an award of attorneys' fees was appropriate in this case because the provisions of the Property Acquisition Act expressly provide for attorneys' fees to be awarded when the owner of property prevails in an inverse condemnation proceeding. The State contends that the lower court correctly reasoned that the attorneys' fee provision of the Property Acquisition Act is inapplicable because Appellant had not been forced to initiate the suit involving the property and only raised the inverse condemnation matter by means of a counterclaim. The State goes on to say that it had no statutory obligation to acquire the severed .73 acre tract because the Act only imposes the requirement to purchase such tracts when the head of the state agency makes the preliminary finding that a severed portion of property is an uneconomic remnant. The head of the state agency made no such finding in this case. To better understand the arguments, we look to the text of the Act and relevant federal regulations.

The Property Acquisition Act applies to federal and federally assisted road construction projects. As a condition of receiving federal assistance for a project resulting in the acquisition of real property, a State agency must agree to comply with the terms of the Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 4655; W.Va.Code §§ 54-3-1 to -5 (Repl.Vol.2000) (implementing the federal Act). The general purpose of the federal Act is "to encourage and expedite the acquisition of real property by agreements with owners, to avoid litigation and relieve congestion in the courts, to assure consistent treatment for owners in the many Federal programs, and to promote public confidence in Federal land acquisition practices. . . ." 42 U.S.C. § 4651. The Act directs agencies to abide by delineated policies, two of which bear particular relevance to the matter before us and read as follows:

(8) If any interest in real property is to be acquired by exercise of the power of eminent domain, the head of the Federal agency concerned shall institute formal condemnation proceedings. No Federal agency head shall intentionally make it necessary for an owner to institute legal proceedings to prove the fact of the taking of his real property.

(9) If the acquisition of only a portion of a property would leave the owner with an uneconomic remnant, the head of the Federal agency concerned shall offer to acquire that remnant. For the purposes of this chapter, an uneconomic remnant is a parcel of real property in which the owner is left with an interest after the partial acquisition of the owner's...