Deltic Farm & Timber Co. v. Board of Commissioners

JONES, Judge.

In these consolidated suits defendant appeals from a judgment recognizing plaintiffs’ lands taken by defendant for levee purposes were not subject to the levee servitude provided for in Civil Code Art. 665, and for this reason could not be appropriated. The court held fair market value must be paid for the land to compensate plaintiffs as in an expropriation proceeding.

Prior to trial the parties stipulated that only the legal issue of appropriation versus expropriation was to be tried and the issue of damages was specifically reserved for subsequent trial, in the event the court…