Ligon v. Potomac Electric Power Co.

The sole question raised on this appeal is whether the trial court in a condemnation case properly ruled as a matter of law that the condemner had shown a necessity to take a strip "of the appellants’ property, for the purpose of erecting and maintaining an overhead power line, in fee simple rather than as an easement that would permit the quarrying of stone in the subsurface of the strip.

The cases recognize, and it is virtually conceded, that the choice as to the extent and type of taking must rest largely in the sound business judgment of the condemner, and that such choice will not be set…