J. R. PEEBLES, JR. AND HIS WIFE, FRANCES H. PEEBLES, APPELLANTS,
v.
THE CANAL AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, A BODY CORPORATE UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1971-11-02
No. N-335
SPECTOR, C. J., and RAWLS, J., concur.
254 So. 2d 232 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1971) Caution
Cited by 8 cases

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Holding

The court held that it was reversible error to deny a motion to strike an appraiser's testimony that was based on an assumption of access inconsistent with the condemnation order.


Headnotes

[1] A condemning authority cannot base its appraisal on a policy of allowing access to a body of water if the taking vests fee simple title in the authority and such access i…

[2] Severance damages in an eminent domain proceeding cannot be reduced by considering privileges, such as access to a body of water, that are not compatible with the fee sim…

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Facts & Procedural History

In an eminent domain proceeding, the condemnees appealed a jury award of $27,200. The condemnor took 60.37 acres of the condemnees' land for a reservo…

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Opinion of the Court
JOHNSON, Judge.

JOHNSON, Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment in an eminent domain proceeding in which appellants, the condemnees, were awarded, pursuant to jury verdict, the sum of $27,-200.00 for land taken by appellee.

Appellee filed eminent domain proceedings against numerous parties for the taking of land to be used for the Eureka Reservoir. At the trial of this cause, it was established that appellants owned an L-shaped tract of land totalling approximately 117 acres, of which 60.37 acres were taken by appellee. Said sixty acres had a total frontage on the Oklawaha River of about 1,700 feet. Two appraisers testified as to the value of the parcel owned by appellants.

Appellants’ appraiser opined that just compensation to appellants was $47,250.00. This figure was based upon a market value of $550.00 per acre for the 60.37 acres taken ($33,000.00) and severance damages of $250.00 per acre for the remaining 57 acres ($14,250.00). The severance damages to the remainder resulted from the fact that after the taking, appellants’ parcel would simply be flatwoods pine land, with no waterfront access.

*233The appellee’s appraiser, Levie D. Smith, felt there would be no severance damage to the remaining land of appellants because, while the property fronted on the Oklawa-ha River before the taking, the remaining property would front on the Eureka Pool after the taking. Smith’s appraisal of just compensation was $27,200.00, $450.00 per acre for the 60.37 acres taken.

During the course of these proceedings by appellee, the trial court ruled that appellee would not be permitted to introduce evidence with respect to its proposed policy of allowing limited access across the 300 foot collar of land included within the taking and fronting on the Eureka Reservoir. As the petition, declaration of taking and order of taking were all absolute in their terms, vesting in appellee fee simple title, the appellee could not base its appraisal upon a policy of allowing access to the pool, as such access would be conditioned upon the benevolence of appel-lee.

Nevertheless, appellee’s appraiser Smith testified that when he made his original appraisal on appellants’ parcel, it was based in part upon the assumption that there would be limited access by appellants across the 300 foot collar leading to the pool. This assumption continued up to the time of trial. After the trial court’s ruling that an appraisal based upon access to the pool would not be permitted, Smith, continued to adhere to his original opinion that there would be no severance damages to the remaining parcel owned by appellants. While admitting that waterfront property generally has a value at a premium as compared with non-waterfront property, and that, before the taking, appellants owned a fee simple absolute title down to the Oklawaha River, a navigable river, which they would not enjoy after the taking, Smith testified that this loss of title and access to the River would not damage appellants’ remaining parcel one iota. Appellants’ motion to strike Smith’s entire testimony upon the grounds that it constituted an appraisal based upon an assumption that was inconsistent with the petition and Order of Taking was denied. We think this denial constituted reversible error.

It is established law that privileges in the property taken, (in this case, access to a body of water) the enjoyment of which is not. compatible with the exercise of the title taken (here, a fee simple absolute) by the condemning authority, cannot be considered in awarding compensation unless they are formally established by the condemnation proceeding. Privileges, such as a right of access to the pool, which are merely permissive and subject to revocation by the condemning party at any time cannot be availed of in reduction of damages. 4, Nichols on Eminent Domain, § 12.41(2); Smith v. City of Tallahassee, 191 So.2d 446 (Fla.App. 1st, 1966). Any restriction on the extent of the taking should be stipulated in the petition and the Order of Taking, for the condemnor is bound by these instruments. Houston Texas Gas & Oil Corporation v. Hoeffner, 132 So.2d 38 (Fla.App. 2nd, 1961).

In the case sub judice, Smith’s original appraisal was based upon an assumption of access across the property taken. Accepting the general rule that waterfront property is valued at a premium, it is incomprehensible to this Court how the removal of that assumption of access could result in the same appraisal of the appellants’ remaining property. Smith testified that there would be no severance damages to the remainder because the remaining property still fronted on a body of water after the taking. Said statement was misleading and confused the jury, for it cannot be said that owning fee simple absolute title to the water’s edge is the same as owning fee simple absolute title to a point 300 feet from the water’s edge with intervening fee simple absolute title vested in another. If an underlying premise upon which a conclusion is based fails, the conclusion itself must necessarily fail. It appearing that Smith’s testimony and appraisal regarding severance damages was *234based upon an erroneous concept of law, we conclude and so hold that it was error for the trial court not to strike such testimony.

The judgment appealed is reversed and the cause is remanded for a new trial not inconsistent with the views herein expressed.

Reversed and remanded.

SPECTOR, C. J., and RAWLS, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Belvedere Dev. Corp. v. Dep't of Transp., 476 So. 2d 649 (Fla. 1985)
    …. 413 So. 2d at 850 (citing Burkart v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 168 So. 2d 65 (Fla.1964) and Caples v. Taliaferro, 144 Fla. 1, 197 So. 861 (1940). The court also discussed a decision of our First District Court of Appeal, Peebles v. Canal Authority, 254 So. 2d 232 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971), in which the condemnor acquired the fee simple title to the property taken without limiting the estate or use involved. The Peebles court held that it was improper for the condemnor’s appraiser to take into consideration the con…
  • Trailer Ranch, Inc. v. City OF Pompano Beach, 500 So. 2d 503 (Fla. 1986)
    …ng the extent of damages is misleading because it suggests that the condemnee retains a greater property interest than he actually does, as the policy may change at the condemnor’s will at any time in the future. See also Peebles v. Canal Authority, 254 So. 2d 232 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971). In St. Regis Paper, the condemnor, the Department of Transportation, attempted to introduce certain plans and testimony showing that, after the condemnor widened a highway on the condemnee’s property, the condemnee would still h…
  • Carvel Corp. v. Division OF Administration, 473 So. 2d 48 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)
    …grounds for reversal, however only one ground merits discussion. Appellant attacks appellee’s appraisal testimony as being based on an erroneous premise and contends that it should have been excluded under authority of Peebles v. Canal Authority, 254 So. 2d 232 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971). Appellee’s appraiser testified that the current zoning of the property was agricultural. The appraiser also stated that the highest and best use of the property was a commercial — residential combination and that he based his op…

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