Wayland v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 96 Wash. 344
• 165 P. 113
• 1917 Wash. LEXIS 1149

Syllabus

<p>Eminent Domain — Value oe Property — Evidence — Assessment ' Rolls — Admissibility. Upon an issue as to the value of property condemned by a city, assessment rolls are not admissible against the city as an admission against interest because the city took part in making up the rolls by representation on the board of equalization.</p> <p>Evidence — Judicial Notice — Assessed Tax Values. The courts take judicial notice that assessed values for taxation are relative rather than actual and that the board of equalization does not correct the valuations as a whole.</p> <p>Eminent Domain — Value oe Property — Evidence — Assessed Value — Admissibility. In condemnation proceedings by a city, assessment rolls for general taxation are not independent evidence of the market value of the property where that is the sole issue.</p> <p>Same — Value oe Land — Evidence—Admissibility. The value of land taken for a street cannot be augmented by showing the ownership of adjacent tide land tracts giving the tract physically invaded a water outlet, where the tracts were separated by a street and were not used in common and could only be so used by using the intervening street.</p> <p>Appeal — Review—Discretion—Comparative Values. Upon an issue as to the value of land taken, the admission of evidence of the price paid for lands in the same vicinity some distance away is largely a matter of discretion, to be reviewed only for abuse.</p> <p>Eminent Domain — Value oe Property — Evidence — Appraisements — Admissibility. In condemnation proceedings, the valuation of appraisers fixing the amount of the inheritance tax is not competent evidence of the market value; since it is res inter alios acta.</p> <p>Same — Valué of Property — Elements of Damage — Street Assessments. In proceedings to condemn for a street land that had already been assessed for an abutting improved street, the amount of the former assessment cannot be shown as a specific element of damage, where the work was done by the ci