Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Weems & Kelsey Management Company No. 2, Ltd. claimed fee ownership of part of a former railroad right-of-way containing a pipeline operated by Marathon Pipe Line LLC and owned by Blanchard Pipe Line LLC. The pipeline had been installed under a license from the railroad’s predecessor, but that license terminated in September 2017 after Union Pacific agreed to transfer its interest in the right-of-way to the State of Texas.
The State had initiated condemnation proceedings against Weems and, in January 2018, deposited the special commissioners’ $1,000 award into the trial court’s registry. Weems later demanded removal of the pipeline and sued for trespass. A jury found that Weems lacked a present right to possess the property, that Marathon and Blanchard had not trespassed, and that they had acquired a prescriptive easement. The trial court rendered a take-nothing judgment against Weems.
The Court’s Holding
The First Court of Appeals affirmed. It held that admitting the commissioners’ award was not reversible error. Although such an award generally is inadmissible in the de novo judicial phase of the condemnation case itself, Weems identified no authority making it categorically inadmissible in this separate trespass action. Any error concerning the award’s relevance, reliability, or hearsay character was harmless because the jury never reached damages and substantially similar information entered evidence without objection.
The court also upheld the jury charge and the no-trespass finding. Whether Weems had a present right to possession was relevant because it sought lost-rental damages for a temporary injury to possession. Evidence permitted the jury to find that Weems impliedly consented to the pipeline’s presence until its May 2019 removal demand and that the State consented after obtaining constructive possession by depositing the commissioners’ award. Because Weems did not conclusively prove lack of consent or authorization, its legal-sufficiency challenge failed. The court therefore did not reach the prescriptive-easement finding, trespass damages, or Marathon and Blanchard’s cross-points concerning limitations and construction of the railroad deeds.
Key Takeaways
- A commissioners’ award that is generally inadmissible in a de novo condemnation trial is not necessarily inadmissible in a separate trespass action.
- Depositing a condemnation award gives the condemnor constructive possession, including possessory rights sufficient to consent to a third party’s continued presence on the property.
- A landowner seeking lost-rental damages for trespass must establish the relevant possessory right and prove that the defendant remained without consent or authorization.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates how possession acquired during pending condemnation litigation can defeat a landowner’s trespass theory even before title is finally resolved. Once the State deposited the commissioners’ award, its constructive possession allowed the jury to consider the State’s consent to the pipeline’s continued presence.
The opinion also shows that an appellate court may affirm on a jury’s no-trespass finding without deciding disputed title, limitations, or prescriptive-easement questions when those issues are unnecessary to the judgment.