Colorado Southern, N. O. & P. R. v. Boagni

Citations

• 118 La. 268
• 42 So. 932
• 1906 La. LEXIS 847

Syllabus

<p>1. Eminent Domain — Railroad Right oe Wat — Selection oe Route.</p> <p>Where, in a suit to expropriate property for the building of a railroad, the evidence fails to disclose that the plaintiff, in selecting its route, has been actuated by any wanton purpose to inflict injury, and, on the other hand, makes it clear that the route has been selected in good faith, the right of the expropriating corporation to select its route will not be subjected to judicial control.</p> <p>2. Same — Compensation — Valuation by Jury.</p> <p>A jury composed of farmers, necessarily owners of real estate, and probably of farms and plantations, is particularly well qualified to deal with the question of the compensation which should be awarded to the owner for the expropriation of a right of way for a railroad through; his plantation, and will not lightly be presumed to have done such owner an injustice in estimating the value of the property taken or the damage inflicted. On the other hand, whilst the assessment of values and damages in such cases should not be exorbitant, the citizen whose property is taken, without his consent, for a purpose, which, though quasi public, is in the main predicated upon considerations of private profit, ought to be paid full value.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — Eor cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 18, Eminent Domain, §§ 683, 685.] (Syllabus by the Court.)</p>