Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Postal Telegraph-Cable Co.

48 S.E. 15, 120 Ga. 268, 1904 Ga. LEXIS 526
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJune 9, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 48 S.E. 15 (Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Postal Telegraph-Cable Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Postal Telegraph-Cable Co., 48 S.E. 15, 120 Ga. 268, 1904 Ga. LEXIS 526 (Ga. 1904).

Opinion

EvaNS, J.

On September 8, 1900, the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company caused to be served upon the Savannah, Florida & Western, Railway. Company a notice that condemnation proceedings would be instituted against it in order to secure the privilege of constructing a telegraph line along its right of way from Albany to Thomasville and from Thomasville to Valdosta. This notice was on the same day filed in the office of the clerk of the superior court of Chatham county. On September 20, 1900, the railway company filed a petition for injunction against the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, alleging that there was no authority of law for the proposed condemnation proceedings, and that the statutes under which the latter company claimed the right to condemn were, for various reasons stated, unconstitutional and void. On the same day the railway company sent a response to the notice above referred to, therein advising the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company that in naming the person to act as the arbitrator selected by the railway company, it did so subject to its petition for injunction and without any prejudice whatsoever to its rights in the premises. Subsequently the railway company filed an amendment to its petition for injunction, and an interlocutory hearing was had thereon upon the 22d of November, 1900, the judge setting aside the restraining order previously granted and refusing to grant a temporary injunction. To this action of the judge the railway company excepted, and brought the case to this court for review, and on February 28, 1901, the judgment of the lower court denying the injunction was affirmed. See 112 Ga. 941. Shortly after the interlocutory hearing on the petition for injunction, and before the decision of this court was rendered, to wit, on December 31, 1900, the railway company appeared before the board of assessors who had been selected to conduct the condemnation proceedings, and, without waiving any of its rights under its petition for injunction, filed objections in writing to the further progress of those proceedings. One of these objections was that the notice of condemnation was legally insufficient, in that [271]*271it did not point out with reasonable certainty and definiteness the location of the lands sought to be condemned. The Postal Telegraph-Cable Company thereafter amended this notice, over the objection of the railway company. Despite its protest, the board of assessors proceeded with'the investigation, and, on January 5,1901, rendered an award for the sum of six thousand dollars as compensation for the property rights of the railway company which the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company .sought to condemn. On January 16, 1901, the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, being dissatisfied with the amount'of this award, entered an appeal to the superior court of Chatham county. ' On the 13th of March following, the railway company filed in the court a “motion to dismiss and quash said condemnation proceedings ” and to declare null and void the award therein rendered. The grounds of this motion were: (1) that the condemnation proceedings were without authority of law, in that the statutes upon which they were predicated were unconstitutional and void; (2) that the act of December 20, 1898, amending certain sections of the code, “make no provision whatsoever for the appointment of an assessor Un the event the' landowner or the railway company or other person interested shall fail to appoint an assessor, or if the owner of the land sought to be condemned shall fail to agree upon an assessor, or if the owner is unknown,” and that the statutes of this State which relate to the selection of an assessor to act in behalf of the landowner or other person interested “ are inapplicable in this case, where one condemnation proceeding is instituted to condemn land located in five separate and distinct counties,” wherefore said act of 1898 is class legislation and in conflict with the constitution of the United States, which provides that no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws or deprived of property without due process of law, etc., as well as a violation of the constitution of the State of Georgia, for like reasons; (3) that the act of 1898 is further in conflict with the constitution of this State and of the United States, because it “ fails to make any provision for the appointment of a third assessor in the event the two assessors selected shall fail to agree upon a third; ” does not provide any machinery for determining the necessity of condemning land or property rights therein for the use of the public ; makes no provision for the filing of an award, nr for entering an appeal therefrom, and is too vague [272]*272and indefinite to authorize the condemnation of a railway right of way for use by a telegraph company; (4) that the act of 1898 is “ contrary to the constitution of the State of Georgia, which provides that all cases respecting the title for land shall be tried in the county in which the land is situated,” for the reason that said act provides “for the institution and trial of condemnation proceedings in counties other than that in which the land is situated,” and authorizes the assessors to render an award without going on the land sought to be condemned and conducting the hearing on the premises, as in other cases provided; (5) that the notice of condemnation did not describe the land sought to be condemned with sufficient certainty, and for that reason íhe notice was too indefinite to support a certain and valid award; (6) that it did not appear that there was any public necessity to condemn any portion of the railway right of way; nor that the portion sought to be condemned was necessary for the purpose of constructing and operating a telegraph line; and (7) that the “notice of condemnation and the said award provide for the crossing of this railway company’s right of way and'tracks under ground by said telegraph company’s line, which is not authorized by law.” This motion to dismiss was, on June 8, 1901, amended by adding the following grounds: (1) the award is defective and insufficient, because it fails to adjudicate the issues raised by the defendant’s objections to the condemnation proceedings, which objections were urged before the assessors before any evidence was introduced ; (2) the award is too indefinite, in that it fails “ to specify what is so much of the right of way of a railway company as may be necessary for the use of a telegraph company for the purpose of erecting, maintaining, and operating its line of telegraph along and upon such right of way; ” and (3) the award fails “to designate and specify the exact portion of the right of way, or how much thereof, or what part thereof, may be taken by the plaintiff,” and also fails to specify or designate “ at what distance from the outer edge of the land on which this defendant operates its trains, commonly called its right of way, . . or at what distance from its track the said poles and line of telegraph might be located and erected; ’’ for which reasons the plaintiff was not authorized, under said award, to enter upon the right of way or make any use of the same, and so to do “ would be contrary to the State and Federal constitu[273]*273tions, in that the property of the defendant would be taken without due process of law.”

To the motion, as amended, the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company filed its answer, admitting all the allegations, of fact on which the motion was based; and on June 8, 1901, the day on which the amendment was made and the answer filed, the court passed on the motion to dismiss and overruled the same.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 S.E. 15, 120 Ga. 268, 1904 Ga. LEXIS 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atlantic-coast-line-railroad-v-postal-telegraph-cable-co-ga-1904.