393.050. Court shall appoint three commissioners to assess damages--payment of damages.
Court shall appoint three commissioners to assess damages--payment ofdamages.
393.050. 1. The court, or the judge thereof in vacation,on being satisfied that due notice of the pendency of thepetition has been given, shall appoint three disinterestedcommissioners, who shall be residents of the county in which thereal estate or stream of water or a part thereof is situated, toassess the damages which the owners may severally sustain byreason of such appropriation, who, after having viewed theproperty, shall return, under oath, such assessment of damages tothe clerk of the court where such petition was filed, settingforth the amount of damages; and should more than one owner beincluded in the petition, then the damages allowed each shall bestated separately, together with a specific description of theproperty for which such damages are assessed, and the clerk shallfile such report and record the same in the order book of thecourt; and thereupon such corporation, company or individualshall pay to the clerk the amount thus assessed, for the party inwhose favor such damages have been assessed, and on making suchpayment, it shall be lawful for such corporation, company orindividual to hold the interest in the property so appropriatedfor the uses prescribed in this section; and upon failure to paythe assessment, the court may, upon motion and notice by theparty entitled to such damages, enforce the payment of the sameby execution, unless the corporation, company or individualshall, within ten days from the time of receiving the notice ofsuch assessment, elect to abandon the proposed appropriation ofany parcel of land, by an instrument, in writing, to that effect,to be filed with the clerk, which shall be entered on the minutesof the court; and as to so much as is thus abandoned, theassessment of damages shall be void.
2. Under the provisions of this section, the commissionersor jury shall be authorized to inquire and make report as to thevalue of the use of any such stream, or the diversion of thewaters thereof, in whole or in part, or what damage will be doneby the erection and maintenance of a dam, or buildings, or theuse of such stream in any manner for the purposes prescribed inthis section, specifically stating to whom and upon what accountdamages are awarded and any person interested may appear to bemade a party, and have a right to file his exceptions to suchreport within the time prescribed by law.
(RSMo 1939 § 5374, A.L. 1943 p. 410 § 158, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1070)Prior revisions: 1929 § 4967; 1919 § 10177; 1909 § 3371