Williams v. State Highway Commission

• Decision Date: 27 July 1961
• Citation: 157 Me. 324,172 A.2d 625
• Court: Maine Supreme Court
• Parties: Bernard M. WILLIAMS et al. v. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION of the State of Maine.

Page 625

172 A.2d 625

157 Me. 324

Bernard M. WILLIAMS et al. v. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION of the State of Maine.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

July 27, 1961.

Carl R. Wright, Skowhegan, for plaintiffs.

Charles P. Nelson, Bath, L. Smith Dunnack, Augusta, for defendant.

Before WILLIAMSON, C. J., and WEBBER, TAPLEY, SULLIVAN, DUBORD and SIDDALL, JJ.

SULLIVAN, Justice.

On appeal of the defendant from part of a judgment under Rule 73, Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, 155 Me. 574.

The State Highway Commission by eminent domain had taken the real estate of the plaintiffs on June 20, A.D.1958. R.S. c. 23, § 21. A joint board had determined the damages caused by such taking. From that decision plaintiffs had appealed to the Superior Court where plaintiffs secured a judgment including an award of interest from June 20, A.D.1958, the date of condemnation, to June 2, A.D.1960, the day of the jury verdict.

The plaintiffs from June 20, A.D.1958 to June 2, A.D.1960 had uninterruptedly enjoyed possession and use of the real estate expropriated and all income therefrom. The structures upon the land consisted of a large portion of a store, a gasoline station and a 'Dairy Treat'. Defendant protests that in addition to such advantages the plaintiffs were not entitled to interest upon the value of the property taken and by this appeal defendant seeks to vindicate the rectitude of that contention.

In application of Article I, Section 21 of the Constitution of Maine the Legislature enacted R.S. c. 23, § 20 which provides that the State Highway Commission may take over and hold for the State real estate to effect state and state aid highways.

R.S. c. 23, § 21 defines the condemnatory process. The Commission determines the public exigency and causes the property to be surveyed, described and a plan of it drafted. The description is recorded in the local registry of deeds, a print of the plan filed in the office of the County Commissioners, a newspaper notice is published and mortgagees of record are informed by registered mail. After reciting the foregoing duties and injunctions R.S. c. 23, § 21 summarily and unequivocally pronounces a legislative fiat 'The recording of the said description shall vest the fee of the described property in the state.'

The Commission or any interested person may thereupon petition the joint board of the State Highway Commission and County Commissioners for a determination of damages with right of appeal for any party aggrieved. R.S. c. 23, § 23; P.L.1959, c. 317, § 8.

Since the authoritative Legislature has so compactly and expressively disposed that the recording by the Commission vests the fee of the condemned property in the State, there can be no durable doubt of a dislocation and transposition of title. And the Legislature reaffirmed that certitude in a statutory postlude when it proceeded to adopt R.S. c. 23, § 24:

'The commission may vacate any land * * * which have been taken * * * for highway purpose; under the provisions of this chapter, by executing and recording a deed thereof, and such action shall revest the title to the lands * * * so vacated in the persons, their heirs and assigns, in whom it was vested at the time of the taking, and the value at the time of vacation may be pleaded in mitigation of damages in any proceedings therefor on account of such taking. The governor and council on recommendation of the commission may sell and convey on behalf of the state the interests of the state in property taken * * * and deemed no longer necessary for the purposes hereof, and they may lease such interests in such property pending such sale or the advantageous use of such property for highway purposes. The proceeds of such sales or leases shall, as far as practicable, be credited to the fund from which payment was made for the land.' (Italics ours.)

R.S. c. 23, § 24 thus treats of a vacating by Commission deed and of a revesting of the title in the former owner with a credit to the Commission at the amount of the value upon vacation in proceedings not already adjudicated as to damages for the taking. It is clearly presupposed that title in fee has vested in the State prior to R.S. c. 23, § 24 becoming operative. (R.S. c. 23, § 21). The Legislature obviously affords such vacating and the resultant revesting as a condition subsequent. Williston on Contracts, Vol. 3, § 667, P. 1915; Tiffany Real Property, Abr. Ed. § 133, P. 122.

Nor is the Commission limited to vacating by a revesting deed but may make recommendation to the Governor and Council who may thereupon sell and convey to any purchaser, property taken and deemed no longer necessary for highway purposes. The Governor and Council may upon Commission advice lease the property pending sale or advantageous use for highway purposes.

On June 20, A.D.1958 the State acquired full and complete ownership of the realty taken from the plaintiffs, that day. Jordan v. Record, 70 Me. 529, 531. All incidents of proprietorship such as entry, use, occupation, rents and profits thus inured at once to the condemner. The State became entitled forthwith to institute against the plaintiffs a possessory action. R.S. c. 172; P.L.1959, c. 317, § 311ff.; Rule 80A(a), (b), (c), M.R.C.P., 155 Me. 590. The plaintiffs had become tenants at sufferance, Cunningham v. Holton, 55 Me. 33, 37, and were chargeable thereafter for use and occupation. McFarland v. Stewart, 142 Me. 265, 50 A.2d 194.

Correlatively the plaintiffs on June 20, A.D.1958 had become divested of their title in their property and had accordingly, with the statute of limitations, R.S. c. 112, § 113, already running, become competent to petition for a determination of their damages and to achieve remuneration. Constitution of Maine, Article I, Section 21; R.S. c. 23, §§ 20, 21, 23. The acts just cited are silent as to interest save as interest may be imputed by the term, damages.

'The amount recoverable was just compensation, not inadequate compensation. The concept of just compensation is comprehensive, and includes all elements, 'and no specific command to include interest is necessary when interest or its equivalent is a part of such compensation.' The owner is not limited to the value of the property at the time of the taking;...