Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/02/1997

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~ . '. Page 2 - October 25, 1997 Z.B. .. Taking - City takes private land for levee use "HYnat Development Company v. Board of Levee Commissioners for the Parish of Orleans, 696 So.2d 163 (Louisiana) 1997 Wynat Development Company owned land in the parish of Orleans, La., next to the Mississippi River. A state statute gave local governments the authority to appropriate private property to build levee facilities. In July 1983 the parish board of levee commissioners adopted a resolution appropriating eight feet ofWynat's riverside property. The board sent Wynat written notice of the decision, which Wynat received on Aug. 15, 1983. The board didn't actually use Wynat's land until the summer of 1985, when it started building the levee. The project was done by December 1985. In 1986, immediately after the levee was completed, Wynat had its property appraised to determine the amount of damage the construction had caused. Under a state statute, if a landowner's property was taken or destroyed for levee purposes, the owner could be compensated for the loss, based on the property's fair market value immediately before and immediately after the levee construction. Wynat and the board couldn't agree on the compensation amount. On April 16,1987, Wynat sued the board, seeking compensation for the land the board took and damages to the remaining land. The board asked the court to dismiss Wynat's claim, saying the company had filed past the time limit. It pointed to a 1975 statute that set a three-year limit on claims against local governments for taking of property. The three- year limit began to run from the date of discovery of the taking. Because Wynat was notified of the board's resolution in 1983 but didn't sue until 1987, the board said, Wynat had missed the time limit. The statute stated it repealed any previous law that conflicted with it. Wynat said a different statute applied. The statute, enacted in 1958, had a time limit of only two years but explicitly stated the limit didn't begin to run until the land was actually taken. Under this statute, then, Wynat filed within the time limit. The company claimed that despite the repeal clause in the 1975 statute, the earlier statute should apply because it referred specifically to the government's appropriation of land for levees, rather than just general taking claims. The court found the 1975 statute applied and dismissed the claim. Wynat appealed. It claimed the court's finding led to absurd results: Itwould have had to file a compensation claim four months before the project ended, . without knowing how much compensation to seek. DECISION: Affirmed. The company failed to sue the board within the required time because the 1975 statute applied. The two-year time limit in the 1958 statute clearly conflicted with the three- year limit in the 1975 statute. The later statute explicitly repealed any previous 3 J