Board of Levee Commissioners v. Lee

Mississippi Supreme Court
Board of Levee Commissioners v. Lee, 85 Miss. 508 (Miss. 1904)
Whitfield

Board of Levee Commissioners v. Lee

Opinion of the Court

Whitfield, C. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

It was competent to receive evidence showing the special value of the land as a steamboat landing, and there were at least two witnesses who were experts on this subject — -T. F. Logan, who has been in the wharf-boat business for about thirty-five years as a steamboat landing keeper, and for eight or ten years in the employ of Capt. Lee himself; the other witness, Arthur T. Jones, has been a pilot on the Mississippi river for twelve years. The testimony of these witnesses, and of other witnesses besides Williams, overwhelmingly establishes the plaintiffs case. According to the testimony of Mr. Logan the damage 'might have amounted to $3,420. It is unnecessary to go into details showing the borrow pits to be eleven feet deep, and that no other steamboat landing, except that of the James Lee and the Kate Adams, existed for miles on the Mississippi river; as to having to ferry the freight across the borrow pits from the landing; and as to the seeping of the water from the borrow pits, causing the caving of the banks next to the river, etc. The verdict of the jury is for less than half of what it might have been, according to the competent testimony. If the testimony of Williams was incompetent, no other result could reasonably have followed. We think the testimony makes it perfectly plain that the land taken should be treated as a part of the land needed for the appropriate and necessary uses of a steamboat landing.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
Board of Levee Commissioners of Yazoo-Mississippi Delta v. James Lee
Cited By
2 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. Eminent Domain. Levee damages. A judgment for damages for land taken and damaged for levee . purposes will not he disturbed on the ground that it is excessive, when a judgment for a much larger sum might have been given under the evidence. 2. Same. Harmless error. The fact that one witness who testified favorably for the defendant whs incompetent affords no ground for setting aside a judgment awarding defendant a certain sum as damages on condemnation of his land for levee purposes, when the judgment is fully sustained by competent evidence.- 3. Same. Evidence. Use to which land is applied. Steamboat landing. Evidence of the value of the land in question as a steamboat landing is competent in a proceeding to condemn land for levee purposes.