Prescott

This is an appeal by the defendant landowner from an order awarding $2,638.25 costs and attorney’s fees to the landowner following abandonment of an eminent domain action by the plaintiff telephone company.

Plaintiff filed a complaint in eminent domain to condemn defendant’s lot. Defendant answered with a general denial, alleged that there was no public necessity for taking his property, and that an excessive amount of land was being taken. He asserted that he was the sole owner of the land, valued the property at $50,000, and prayed that it not be taken.

The parties entered into negotiations concerning price. Interrogatories and a request for admission of facts were served on the plaintiff. Plaintiff answered some of the interrogatories, objected to others, and responded to defendant’s request for admission of facts. Plaintiff’s objections to the interrogatories were sustained by the trial court; defendant’s ensuing petition for a writ of mandate to require the trial court to compel the plaintiff to answer the interrogatories was denied by this court. The defendant then petitioned the Supreme Court and a hearing was granted. At this point, the plaintiff, which does not have the…