United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. General Motors Corp., 323 U.S. 373 (1945)

United States v. General Motors Corp.

No. 76

Argued November 16, 17, 1944

Decided January 8, 1945

323 U.S. 373

Syllabus

In proceedings to determine the measure of just compensation required by the Fifth Amendment to be made to a leaseholder where the Government has taken, for part of the unexpired term of a lease, the occupancy of a warehouse which was equipped for and used in the leaseholder's business, held:

1. The value of the occupancy is to be ascertained not by treating what has been taken as an empty warehouse to be leased for a long-term, but by what would be the market rental value of the building on a lease by the long-term tenant to a temporary occupant. P. 323 U. S. 381.

The long-term rental value is admissible as evidence of the market rental value of the temporary occupancy.

2. The reasonable cost of removing the leaseholder's stored property and preparing the space for occupancy by the Government -- including labor, materials, transportation, and possibly the cost of

Page 323 U. S. 374

temporary storage and returning the goods to the premises -- may be proved not as independent items of damage, but as elements affecting the price which would be asked and paid for temporary occupancy. P. 323 U. S. 383.

3. The leaseholder is entitled to compensation for the destruction, damage, or depreciation in value of fixtures and permanent equipment, not as part of, but in addition to, the value of the occupancy. P. 323 U. S. 383.

140 F.2d 873 affirmed.

Certiorari, 322 U.S. 722, to review a judgment which, on an appeal by the company, reversed a judgment in a condemnation proceeding.