Altoona Electrical, Engineering & Supply Co. v. Kittanning & F. C. St. Ry. Co.

126 F. 559, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5189
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 17, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 126 F. 559 (Altoona Electrical, Engineering & Supply Co. v. Kittanning & F. C. St. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Altoona Electrical, Engineering & Supply Co. v. Kittanning & F. C. St. Ry. Co., 126 F. 559, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5189 (circtwdpa 1903).

Opinion

ACHESON, Circuit Judge.

This bill is based upon a written contract, dated November 7, 1898, between the above-named parties, whereby the plaintiff, the Altoona Electrical, Engineering & Supply Company, undertook and agreed, at its own expense, to provide all material for, and construct and equip, as provided in the contract, for the defendant, the Kittanning & Ford City Street Railway Company, a line of railroad, to be operated electrically, extending from the Neil-ton plan of lots, in Rayburn township, Armstrong county, through [560]*560said township, Kittanning borough, Manor township, and Manorville borough, into Ford City, at a point where Fourth avenue and Sixth street cross, of the length of about five miles. The work on the railway was to be begun by the plaintiff immediately after the date of the contract, and, subject to certain contingencies and specified exceptions, was to be completed not later than the ist day of April, 1899. The defendant company covenanted and agreed to secure all rights of way, and, where the railway should cross or run upon a public highway, street, lane, or alley, secure the consent of the proper municipal authorities, in writing, and, where the railway should run over or along township roads, secure the consent of the supervisors of roads, and the consent in writing of the abutting landowners and all persons having an estate therein, before the work should be begun. The bill alleges that, before the plaintiff company began work under the contract, it was informed by the defendant company that the latter had procured rights of way over the entire line of railway, as described in the contract. This allegation, I find, is sustained by the weight of the evidence. The plaintiff began work immediately after the execution of the contract, and prosecuted the work with reasonable diligence, in view7 of all the circumstances. The defendant company had not procured rights of way along the entire line of the railway from the Neilton jplan to its other terminus in Ford City. It never procured a right of way over the Graham property — a distance of about 700 feet — at the northern end of the line adjoining the Neilton plan of lots, nor a right of way at its southern end from the line of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company’s property, and over the same, and to the terminus in Ford -City, a distance of about 4,435 feet. It further appears that during the progress of the work there were disputes and difficulties with other landowners with reference to the right of way, which retarded the work. The work, except at the above-mentioned places at or near the termini where the right of way had not been procured, was completed about the ist day of March, 1900, and shortly thereafter the railway, as so constructed, was turned over to the defendant company, which has ever since been in possession of and has operated the same. The defendant company bound itself, in and by the contract, to deliver to the plaintiff company, in payment for the materials furnished and work done by it, $45,000 of the capital stock of the railway company, and $50,000 in first mortgage bonds, secured by a first mortgage executed to the Pittsburgh Trust Company, of Pittsburgh, as trustee. The entire capital stock of the defendant company was $50,000.

The main purpose of this bill was to compel the defendant company to deliver to the plaintiff the balance of stock and bonds to which it was entitled under the contract, and to restrain the defendant company, by injunction, from any other disposition of said stock and bonds. The defendant answ'ered the bill on its merits, and did not thereby or otherwise raise any question as to the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the bill. In the defendant’s brief, however, furnished the court since the argument of the case, the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the bill is challenged. Many cases, however, are to be found in the books where courts of chancery have enforced [561]*561specific performance of contracts relating to personalty, including contracts relating to stock of corporations. Mechanics’ Bank of Alexandria v. Seton, 1 Pet. 299, 7 L. Ed. 152; 1 Story’s Eq. Jur. §§ 724, 724a, 724b. The case before the court is a peculiar and exceptional one. The stock of the defendant corporation in its entirety was small, namely, $50,000. Presumably it could not be procured in the market, and it hacj no general market value. Whatever value it had was given to it by the plaintiff’s work and expenditures. But if the defense which is suggested at this late day ever existed, it must be considered as having been waived, upon the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in the cases of Reynes v. Dumont, 130 U. S. 354, 9 Sup. Ct. 486, 32 L. Ed. 934; Kilbourn v. Sunderland, 130 U. S. 505, 9 Sup. Ct. 594, 32 L. Ed. 1005; Brown v. Eake Superior Iron Company, 134 U. S. 530, 535, 536, 10 Sup. Ct. 604, 33 L. Ed. 1021. Nor does it affect the jurisdiction of the court, which attached upon the filing of the bill, that the evidence disclosed that before it was filed the defendant had sold the stock here in question, and that since the bill was filed it had sold the bonds. Although the specific relief sought cannot be granted, by reason of the defendant having disposed of these securities, yet the case must proceed for the ascertainment of a money compensation to be made the plaintiff, and a decree accordingly.

In respect to the time limit specified in the contract, two observations may be made. In the first place, it seems clear from the dealings of the parties that there was a waiver of the time limit; and, in the second place, the defendant is in no position to insist upon that time limit, because of its own defaults. It was particularly in default in that it never procured the right of way over the Graham property at the northern end of the line, nor over the property already mentioned at the southern end of the line. In regard to the performance of the contract, in so far as it was performed, it must be said that the testimony is very conflicting. Upon a careful consideration, however, of the whole evidence, my conclusion is, and I find, that there was substantial performance by the plaintiff in accordance with the terms of the contract and the specifications for the work, in so far as the defendant company secured a right of way. All the defenses, therefore, based upon the alleged nonperformance or defective performance, are overruled.

Here it may be proper to notice specially the defense relating to the ballasting of the road. The contract provides that the ballasting shall be “with such material as found along line.” The evidence satisfies me that this provision was complied with.

The plaintiff does not claim damages by reason of the failure of the defendant to procure a right of way over the Graham property and the right of way at the Ford City end of the line. The plaintiff, however, does claim that it should be allowed for the profits which it would have made, had those rights of way been procured, and those portions of the line of railway built under the contract. On the other hand, the defendant contends that the plaintiff knew when it commenced work that these rights of way had not been procured, and that it took the risk of the defendant procuring them subsequently. I am unable [562]*562to accept the defendant’s contention in this regard.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
126 F. 559, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/altoona-electrical-engineering-supply-co-v-kittanning-f-c-st-ry-circtwdpa-1903.