Central Georgia Power Co. v. Cornwell

82 S.E. 243, 141 Ga. 843, 1914 Ga. LEXIS 172
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided June 15, 1914·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Evans, P. J.

The Central Georgia Power Company brought a petition against W. C. Cornwell, alleging, in substance, as follows: Petitioner is a corporation constructing a dam at Capps and Lloyd Shoals on the Ocmulgee river in Jasper and Butts counties. At the dam a power plant is also being constructed to generate electricity by water, to be used for the purpose of lighting towns and cities, and supplying motor power to railroad and street-car lines, 'and supplying heat, light, and power to the public; and under the laws of this State such corporation is clothed with the power of eminent domain. On June 27, 1903, Mrs. Julia C. McCandless conveyed to Thomas J. Carling, trustee, a certain tract or parcel of land containing 90 and one half acres, known.as the Byars place; “also all the water rights and water-power privileges in and to that tract of land containing one hundred and seventy-five acres,” known as the Cornwell place; also all the water rights and water-power privileges in all that tract known ras the Faulkner place, containing 140 acres; also the water rights and water privileges in all that tract of land known as the Leverett place, containing 103 acres; also all water rights and water privileges in and to that tract of land known as the Smith place, containing 193 acres. This conveyance contained the iollowing clause: “This instrument also conveys, with said property, all the grantor’s easements, ways, and rights of way necessary or convenient to the grantee’s easy access, ingress and egress [844]*844in and to said tract of land and said Ocmulgee river; and also all the grantor’s rights and privileges in and to and appurtenant to said river, including the title to the river bed, the islands, the channel, the banks, the margins, shores, lakes, ppnds, tributary streams and springs; 'and also the accretions and alluvium, the water-power, the flow of the stream; and also including the grantor’s rights of diversion, overflow, back water and inundation relative to said river; and also including the grantor’s rights of fishing, fishery and fishing ground; and also ■ including all the grantor’s rights to fords, ferries, landing places, and mill-sites; and also including the grantor’s rights to construct dams, obstructions, barriers, embankments, levees, canals, race ways, sluice ways and tail races and conduits; and also including all the grantor’s riparian rights, river-bed rights, channel rights, and water rights of every kind and character, whatsoever.” The habendum clause was to have and to hold "the said above-granted and described property, with all and singular the rights, members, and appurtenances thereunto appertaining, to the only proper use, benefit, and behoof of the said party of the second part, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, in fee simple.” By successive conveyances the land and water privileges conveyed by this deed became the property of petitioner. Subsequently to this conveyance Mrs, McCandless sold and conveyed the Cornwell land to the defendant, who accepted and received his conveyance from Mrs. McCandless with notice that she had previously conveyed to petitioner’s predecessors in title all the rights, privileges, easements, licenses, and titles set out and contained in her deed to Carling. The dam and power plant of petitioner are approaching completion, and will cause the water of the Ocmulgee river to overflow a portion of the Cornwell tract, and in addition to the land that will be so overflowed, in order to afford petitioner the right of access in and to the reservoir that will be created as a result of the dam, it is necessary and convenient for petitioner’s purposes that it have a marginal strip of land adjacent to the storage reservoir, with the right forever to enter upon and use the same in order to maintain the dam and storage reservoir created thereby, which marginal strip will be approximately 30 feet in width. The amount of land of the Cornwell tract which will be overflowed will be 38.61 acres, fully described in a plat attached to the petition. The defendant is now [845]*845asserting title to the whole of the 175 acres of land, denying that the petitioner has any right of easement, privilege, interest, or title in and to the same, and threatening to drive off and prevent the entry of persons whom petitioner has employed to enter upon and clear so much of the land as is necessary to be inundated; and he will continue to drive off and prevent any such persons, whenever 'an effort is made to enter upon and clear the land. Such efforts to drive off petitioner’s agents are liable to precipitate a. physical conflict, and lead to serious trouble. The prayer is for a decree adjudging the plaintiff to be entitled to the amount and quantity of the land necessary to be overflowed in the operation of the plant, as described in the petition, and to all the interests, easements, rights of way, privileges, appurtenances, and titles in and to the Cornwell tract, as claimed to be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the power-plant and the storage reservoir created thereby; and for injunction 'against the defendant’s interfering with petitioner’s rights as set out.

The defendant in his answer denied that when he purchased the land from Mrs. McCandless he had any notice of the alleged rights of petitioner, and that the property was conveyed to him with the exception of the water rights, and power privileges appertaining to the land; and averred that petitioner had no right so to construct a dam on other land belonging to it as to overflow his land. After the introduction of evidence a verdict for the defendant was directed by the court. A motion for new trial was overruled, 'and the plaintiff sued out a writ of error.

1. It appeared from the evidence that Mrs. McCandless, at the time of her conveyance to Carling, trustee, owned in fee the Byars and Cornwell places, ’and certain easements of water rights' upon the Leverett, Smith, and Faulkner tracts. Her conveyance passed to the plaintiff the fee in the Byars tract, certain easements upon the Cornwell tract, to which she held title, and certain other water rights and privileges appertaining to other tracts. The material difference between the contending parties is as to the extent of the easement so far as it relates to the Cornwell tract. The power company contends that it owned land two miles down the river, where it was constructing a dam, and that the easement of backing water was not only appurtenant to the land which it purchased, but also to its other land upon the river, ’and that it had the right to back [846]*846water over so much of the Cornwell tract as was necessary to obtain water of the height contemplated at the dam, to carry out its plan of development. On the contrary, the defendant insists that the easement of back water was limited to the land which was conveyed, and had no reference to the grantee’s other property, located two miles down the river. If we give the deed the construction contended for by the power company, that is, that the easement of water privileges included the right to submerge the entire Cornwell tract if necessary for the development of other property of the grantee, located two miles away, at its pleasure, in effect that would render the ultimate fee of very little value, on account of this serious burden. The deed is plain and unambiguous. It conveys the “water rights and water-power privileges in and to” the Corn-well tract. That is to say, whatever water-powers and privileges appertain to that tract passed by that conveyance.

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Central Georgia Power Co. v. Cornwell, 82 S.E. 243, 141 Ga. 843, 1914 Ga. LEXIS 172 (Ga. 1914).

82 S.E. 243 (Central Georgia Power Co. v. Cornwell) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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