Level 3 Communications, LLC, a telecommunications public utility, instituted this special master proceeding to condemn an easement for construction, operation, and maintenance of a fiber optic cable system over and across land owned by Lillie Witcher. The special master awarded Witcher $963 as the value of the condemned property interest. Witcher appealed the award to superior court and filed exceptions to the award. The superior court denied the exceptions and condemned the property. At trial, the jury found the value of Witcher’s condemned property interest to be $3,225. Witcher appeals the judgment entered on the award. Because she has failed to carry her burden of showing error from the record, we affirm. Witcher owns approximately 82 acres of Madison County pasture land, which she acquired from her grandmother’s estate in 1990. In 1941, Witcher’s predecessors in title conveyed a 30-foot easement across this acreage to Plantation Pipe Line Company. Plantation is an interstate common carrier of petroleum products. Plantation owns and operates a pipeline system through eight Southeastern states, including Georgia. The 1941 easement authorized Plantation to construct, operate, and maintain a pipeline for the transportation of petroleum products. In 1968, Plantation condemned an additional 20-foot easement adjacent to the 30-foot easement. Plantation has laid three pipelines in the 50-foot easement; one is 26 inches wide, one is 14 inches wide, and one is 10 inches wide; the 26-inch and 14-inch pipelines are active meaning they are currently being used to transport petroleum; the 10-inch pipeline is idle meaning it is not currently being used to transport petroleum.
In 1999, Plantation entered into a license agreement granting Level 3 the non-exclusive right to use certain of its pipelines and rights of way for installation of its fiber optic communications system. Under the license agreement, Level 3 acquired the right to use the idle 10-inch pipeline that runs through Witcher’s land. Level 3 had to institute this condemnation proceeding because of the change in the use of the easement from a petroleum pipeline to a fiber optic communications system. The property condemned by Level 3 is comprised of a 10-foot strip of land, consisting of five feet on either side of the center line of the 10-inch pipeline.
