Anhalt v. Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railway Co.

166 Iowa 479
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 23, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 166 Iowa 479 (Anhalt v. Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anhalt v. Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railway Co., 166 Iowa 479 (iowa 1914).

Opinion

Gaynor, J.

Plaintiff in his petition states: That he is the owner of the south half of lots 5 and 6 in block 19 in Cretzmeyer’s addition to Waverly, and occupies the same as a residence. That the defendant is a corporation organized under the laws of this state, for the purpose of, and has been for a number of years last past engaged in operating an interurban railway in the counties of Bremer and Black Hawk in this state. That, as such, it maintains freight and passenger depots in Waverly, and has other stations along its lines, for the reception of freight and the accommodation of passengers. That, in the. construction of its railway, it laid tracks upon and over various streets in the city of Waverly, as well as over and across certain farm land between the various towns and cities along its line. That among the streets upon and over which it located and laid its track, and has been since the laying of the track operating and maintaining an interurban railway, are Washington street, running north and south, and Ellsworth street, running east and west, in said city. That said streets meet at the corner of block 19 in the addition aforesaid. Plaintiff’s property aforesaid abuts upon Washington street for a distance of sixty-six feet and [481]*481on Ellsworth street a distance of one hundred and thirty-two feet. The tracks of said railway were laid some time in the latter part of 1910, and ever since that time the same have been used for the movement, switching, and transportation of cars, freight, wares, merchandise, and live stock, to and from said city of Waverly. The tracks of defendant upon said street, at the place where plaintiff’s property abuts thereon, are so close to said property as to occupy a portion of the space in the street on the west and south side of plaintiff’s premises, usually and ordinarily devoted to sidewalk. That, in addition to the main line of track over which the principal portion of defendant’s business is handled (which main line is located and laid down on Washington and Ellsworth streets aforesaid), the defendant owns and operates a side track which connects with the tracks of the Chicago Great Western Railway. The right of way of the said Chicago Great Western Railway adjoins the defendant’s track near the southwest corner of block 19. That in switching cars from its track to the tracks of the Chicago Great Western Railway, or from the latter to its own track, it moves and transports cars of freight and live stock over and upon that portion' of Washington and Ellsworth streets upon which plaintiff’s property abuts. That the defendant, in the transaction of its business as an interurban railway, and in operating upon Washington and Ellsworth streets, uses not only its passenger and combination baggage ear, but uses freight cars of the kind and character commonly and ordinarily used by steam railways for the transportation of freight, wares, merchandise of all kinds, including coal and live stock. That defendant’s railway was located and laid upon said streets over the objection of the plaintiff and without his consent. That the injury to plaintiff’s property abutting on said streets has never been ascertained and compensated for in the manner provided for the taking of private property for works of internal improvement. That plaintiff’s property has been injured by [482]*482the location and laying down of defendant’s track in the sum of $1,500, and for this the plaintiff asks judgment.

The defendant filed the following demurrer :

Comes now the defendant and demurs to the petition of plaintiff filed herein on the ground that said petition shows upon its face that the plaintiff is not entitled to any of the relief demanded in said petition for the following reasons:

First. It appears from the petition that the defendant is operating only an interurban railway within the limits of the city of Waverly, and upon and over the street mentioned in the petition, and there is no allegation that the defendant has not a proper franchise granted by the city of Waverly in the manner provided by law, authorizing it to construct and operate its road in the manner in which it has been constructed and operated, or that the said franchise requires it to compensate abutting property owners for the injury, if any, to their property.

Second. That under the law the eity of Waverly had the absolute power to authorize the construction of the defendant’s interurban railway upon, over, or along the said Washington street, and to prescribe the conditions and regulations under which the same should be constructed and operated upon said street, and'that there is no allegation in the petition that the city of Waverly hás not duly authorized, in the manner provided by law, the construction and operation of the road at the place in question, in the manner in which it has been constructed and operated or that there was any condition imposed by the city of Waverly requiring the defendant to compensate abutting property owners for the injury, if any, to their property.

Third. That there is no general law in the state of Iowa requiring interurban railway companies, operating upon and over streets within the limits of a city, to compensate abutting property owners for the injury, if any, to their property, and the right, if any, to abutting damages necessarily would have to be bottomed upon some provision of an ordinance, or the franchise under which the said interurban railway was constructed and is being operated, and that there is no allegation in the petition showing that said right exists and no facts shown upon which the plaintiff is entitled to recover.

[483]*483The demurrer having been sustained by the court, the plaintiff filed an amendment to his petition in which he sets up the ordinance of the city of Waverly authorizing the construction, maintenance, and operation by the defendant of its railway in, upon, and along the streets of the city, and setting up also the defendant’s articles of incorporation, and alleging in said amendment, among other things, the following:

That under said ordinance the defendant claims the right to move and transfer, and has moved and transported, the freight of the kinds mentioned in plaintiff’s petition, and in addition thereto has moved oil, gasoline, and kerosene, all in or upon ordinary box and flat cars, in general transporting in such cars all the various kinds of freight commonly transported by steam railroads, and in the transaction of its business the defendant has moved cars containing freight, as herein stated, over and upon Washington street and Ellsworth street on the portions thereof upon which plaintiff’s property abuts, and at various times has allowed the same to be and remain thereon at such place for periods of time of greater or less length, as the necessities of or convenience of its business demanded. That in the operation of its said railway, and for the convenient handling of the freight hauled by it, the defendant has constructed and maintains a freight depot at a distance of a few rods (exact distance plaintiff being unable to state) to the southeast of plaintiff’s premises. Such depot is located along its tracks within the corporate limits of the city of Waverly, Iowa, and along and adjacent to the track from and to which it switches and moves the freight ears handled by it, or received from the Chicago Great Western Railway.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 Iowa 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anhalt-v-waterloo-cedar-falls-northern-railway-co-iowa-1914.