Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway v. Abar

275 Cal. App. 2d 456, 79 Cal. Rptr. 807, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 1936
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 6, 1969
DocketCiv. 25621
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 275 Cal. App. 2d 456 (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway v. Abar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway v. Abar, 275 Cal. App. 2d 456, 79 Cal. Rptr. 807, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 1936 (Cal. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

RATTIGAN, Acting. P. J.

Respondent railroad brought this action to quiet title, and for injunctive relief, relative to a portion of its trackage right of way. Defendants appeal from a judgment in favor of the railroad and against them on their cross-complaint.

According to the evidence: At Gately, in an unincorporated area of Contra Costa County, the railroad’s main line track runs in a northeasterly direction between the cities of Richmond and Pinole. Immediately adjacent to a street known as Walter Avenue, which crosses the track at grade, the railroad’s right of way is 300 feet wide; in and beyond the street, it is 100 feet wide. The railroad acquired both sectors in 1901, from a predecessor railway company to whom the right of way had been conveyed in 1898. The grantor was H. G. F. Dohrmann, the owner of the underlying fee. Defendants Abar acquired a portion of the underlying fee, as Dohrmann’s successors, in 1964. In 1966 the railroad built a “team track” on its right of way, adjacent to the Abar property. The appearance of the immediate area in and after 1966 is depicted in the following sketch: (See following page.)

The 1898 deed by Dohrmann granted the railroad’s predecessor, “. . . and to its successors and assigns forever, a right of way for the excavation, construction and maintenance of a broad-gauge railroad bed, and the right to lay down and maintain thereon a railroad track or tracks of standard width, *459 with all necessary switches and turn-outs, and to pass with a railroad and to run locomotives and cars thereon, along, over and across that certain strip or parcel of land . . . lying on each side of the located line of . . . [the predecessor railroad] . . . where the same is located through Lot ‘A’ of the Dohrmann ranch . . . said tract being bounded and particularly described as follows to wit: ...” The description which follows is by surveyed courses and distances only. It does not refer to Walter Avenue or to any other street; it fairly appears that no streets existed in the area at any time.

The 1898 deed was executed by Dohrmann on January 18, *460 1898, and recorded in the official records of Contra Costa County on January 26,1898. Walter Avenue first appeared in a subdivision map entitled “Map of Bay Villa” and recorded by one Evelyn Tyler on February 21, 1899. The map covered the portion of Lot “A” of the Dohrmann ranch across which the railroad right of way had been granted in 1898, and it showed the right of way crossing Walter Avenue—which was apparently one of several streets newly created in the Bay Villa subdivision—in its present location. A legend on the subdivision map, in the 300-foot-wide right of way next' to Walter Avenue, stated “Reservation for passenger and freight depot”: we hereinafter discuss this evidence in more detail.

Uncontradicted testimony defined a “team track.” The evidence also showed that the railroad had maintained a team track in the area in 1916 and 'again in 1944; neither, however, had been located on the land which became the Abar property in 1964, and neither had involved the use of that property for access to it. It was also shown that, in and after 1966, the railroad’s freight customers had commenced to use the “team driveway” (which, as shown in the sketch supra, is on the Abar property) for vehicular access from Walter" Avenue to the team track (which is not), and for unloading freight from railroad ears on the track. Defendant Charles Abar, disputing this use of his property, blocked the driveway by parking vehicles near the entrance. The evidence is clear tha.t he parked the vehicles on Walter Avenue itself at times, but it appears — if somewhat less clearly—that he occasionally parked them on the team driveway and inside the Abar property line.

The barricade, preventing use of the team driveway, interrupted the team track operation. The railroad thereupon commenced this action, seeking to quiet title to’ its right of way and to enjoin interference with access to it. Defendants cross-complained to quiet title to the underlying fee involved, and for other relief which they do not pursue on the appeal.

The allegations of the railroad’s complaint included a recital that Walter Avenue was a public street. Defendants’ answer did not expressly deny the fact recited, but it pleaded as separate defenses (1) that the railroad was estopped from asserting the fact; and (2) that a Public Utilities Commission proceeding had established that Walter Avenue was not a public street, which fact was therefore adverse to the- rail *461 road’s present contention and—because the railroad had been a party to the 'Public Utilities Commission proceeding—res judicata. Conflicting evidence concerning Walter Avenue’s history included testimony that it had been used by the public for more than 30 years.

From the foregoing evidence, and as pertinent here, the trial court made the following findings of fact and conclusions Of law (deletions, bracketed interpolations and italics by this conrt) :

“Findings of Fact
“2. That . . . [the railroad] . . . is the owner of a 300 foot right of way for railroad purposes located near Gately, California, and more particularly described in the deed dated January 18, 1898, . . .
“3. That the [1898] deed states in part thereof that . . . [the railroad’s] . . . predecessor is granted: . . . [the court here recited the grant language and other provisions of the 1898 deed quoted supra] . . .
“4. That ... [in 1966 the railroad] . . . constructed a team track on its said right of way ... A team track consists of railroad tracks which are used to switch railroad cars off the main line and for the purpose of storing them to allow the owner of freight to unload the same from such railroad cars. In 1916 and in 1944, . . . [the railroad] . . . had team tracks at Gately, California., on its right of way immediately adjacent to the right of way involved in this litigation.
“5. That since becoming the owner of said right of way, . . . [the railroad] . . . has continuously used the same for railroad purposes.
“6. That Walter Avenue is 60 feet wide where it crosses . . . [the railroad’s] railroad tracks and it has been used continuously by . . . [the railroad] . . . and the public for a period of over 30 years last past as a means of ingress and egress to and through . . . [the railroad’s] . . . right of way.
“7. Defendants . . . [Abar] . . . are the owners of the fee title to the property over which . . . [the railroad] . . . has the hereinbefore mentioned right of way.
“8. Defendant . . . Charles Abar . . . has parked trucks in a location on Walter Avenue which was in an area in front of a portion of . . . [the railroad’s] . . . right of way and *462 blocked the only means of ingress and egress to the said team track and railroad cars thereon . . .
“9. That . . . [defendants’] . . . action in Hocking Walter Avemie interfered with the use of . . .

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Bluebook (online)
275 Cal. App. 2d 456, 79 Cal. Rptr. 807, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 1936, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atchison-topeka-santa-fe-railway-v-abar-calctapp-1969.