Woodville v. United States

• Decision Date: 03 January 1946
• Docket Number: No. 3177,3184.,3177
• Parties: WOODVILLE, OKL., et al. v. UNITED STATES. UNITED STATES v. NEW WOODVILLE, OKL.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

152 F.2d 735 (1946)

WOODVILLE, OKL., et al. v. UNITED STATES.

UNITED STATES v. NEW WOODVILLE, OKL.

Nos. 3177, 3184.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

January 3, 1946.

Reuel W. Little, of Madill, Okl. (Jack H. Smith and Little & Smith, all of Madill, Okl., on the brief), for appellants and cross-appellee.

George S. Swarth, of Washington, D. C. (J. Edward Williams, Curtis P. Harris, and Roger P. Marquis, all of Washington, D. C., on the brief), for appellee and cross-appellant.

Before PHILLIPS, BRATTON, and HUXMAN, Circuit Judges.

HUXMAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal and cross-appeal arise out of condemnation proceedings had in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. By appropriate legislation, Congress authorized the construction of the Denison Dam and Reservoir Project for flood control and other purposes. The impounded waters thereof would completely flood the town of Woodville, an incorporated town covering approximately 160 acres. The St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company's railroad right of way through the town was also in the flooded area.

Between June, 1941 and March, 1943, the United States government acquired all the lots and tracts of land within the town, and by agreement with the railroad company, provided a relocated right of way for its tracks outside the reservoir area. In consideration thereof, the railway company conveyed all its interest in the old right of way to the United States. The City of Woodville was dissolved under the law of Oklahoma, and the Town of New Woodville was incorporated. It was not a relocation of the old Town of Woodville. Only about fifty of the three hundred residents of Woodville moved to the new town. Only three of these were land owners in the old town.

On January 29, 1945, the government instituted this action against both municipalities¹ to condemn the easements in the lands constituting the streets, sidewalks and alleys, as well as the fee title to the railroad company's right of way. In their answers the two cities sought substantial compensation for the value of the streets, sidewalks, alleys, and for a water well, and compensation for the full value of the strip of right of way. It was stipulated that the full value of this strip of land was $300.

The cause was tried to the court. Appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law were made by the trial court. Judgment was entered for Woodville for $1 for the streets, sidewalks and alleys, and for $300 for the railroad right of way. In Number 3177 Woodville has appealed from that portion of the judgment awarding it One Dollar, and in Number 3184 the government has appealed from that part of the judgment awarding Woodville the full value of the strip of right of way land.

— Number 3177 —

Under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution private property may not be taken for public use without payment of just compensation. It is well settled that under this constitutional guaranty the government must pay a city just compensation for streets, sidewalks or alleys when taken under the power of eminent domain. It is obvious that just compensation to a city for its streets taken by condemnation cannot be measured by the ordinary standards of value. It does not own the streets. Under Oklahoma law the fee title thereto is in the owners of the abutting property.² All it has is an easement in the streets, sidewalks and alleys, impressed with the obligation on its part to maintain them for public use. Its interest in such easements is totally unlike property of a private corporation.³ Just compensation in a condemnation proceeding for the taking of streets and alleys cannot be measured by the same standards as compensation for the taking of private property.

It is well settled that the compensation to which a city is entitled when its streets are condemned is the cost of providing necessary substitutes therefor.⁴ But where a city is not required to provide substitutes and it is not necessary to do so, it has suffered no financial loss and is therefore not entitled to substantial damages for the taking of such public ways.⁵ Here the government took all the private property in the whole town. All the residents of Woodville moved away. There were none left. The very nature of the project was such that no new residents would or could come into town. There was therefore no need for new streets, sidewalks, or alleys. Woodville was completely relieved from the obligation to provide substitute public ways. It therefore suffered no monetary loss for which it was entitled to substantial compensation. As a matter of fact, it surrendered its charter and ceased to exist.

Before Woodville surrendered its charter, it assigned all its claims of any kind or nature that it had, to the Town of New Woodville. But New Woodville, as assignee of the old city, could gain no greater rights against the government than Woodville, the assignor, had. Had New Woodville been a relocation of Woodville, we would have an entirely different problem. But the court specifically found that it was not a relocation of the old town. This finding is amply sustained by the record.

— Number 3184 —

In its cross-appeal in this case, the government contends that the court below erred in allowing Woodville judgment for $300, the full value of the land embraced in the railroad company's right of way. The land included in the right of way originally belonged to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Tribes. It was granted to the predecessor of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad for right of way purposes under Sections 13 et seq. of the Act of February 28, 1902, 32 Stat. 43. The Act of April 26, 1906, 34 Stat. 137, sought to make final disposition of all tribal lands. Section 14 provided that the title to tracts of land reserved from allotment because of the right of any railroad company therein in the nature of an easement for right of way purposes should vest in the owner of the legal subdivision of which such land was a part if it was abandoned by the railroad as a right of way, except lands within a municipality, the title to which, upon abandonment, should vest in the municipality. Woodville claims the right to receive the full value of the tract in question under this provision of the statute.

We know of no case that has held that the ejectment, so to speak, of a railroad from its right of way by the sovereign under the superior power of eminent domain constitutes an abandonment so as to work a forfeiture of the estate. The authorities contain a great deal of discussion as to the nature of the estate of an easement for railroad right of way purposes. They variously designate such an estate as a qualified, base, or determinable fee. The authorities are not in agreement whether such an estate is determinable upon condition subsequent or whether it is a fee upon conditional limitation. We think that such an estate constitutes a base fee.⁶ Oklahoma has held that such an estate is a fee determinable upon condition subsequent.⁷ In our opinion it is not necessary to determine whether the estate in question is a fee determinable upon condition subsequent or a fee...