Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. City of Naperville

47 N.E. 734, 166 Ill. 87, 1897 Ill. LEXIS 2160
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 3, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 47 N.E. 734 (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. City of Naperville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. City of Naperville, 47 N.E. 734, 166 Ill. 87, 1897 Ill. LEXIS 2160 (Ill. 1897).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Craig

delivered the opinion of the court:

This was a proceeding in the circuit court of DuPage county, instituted by the city of /Naperville, against the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company and others, to condemn certain premises for a street across the depot grounds of the railroad company. The object of the proceeding was to lay out and extend Center street sixty-six feet wide, from the north line of the depot grounds south some three hundred and seventeen feet to the south line of the depot grounds, as shown by a plat in the record.

Upon looking into the record it appears that the railroad company has two main tracks running through Naperville. The main portion of its depot grounds at that place is between Washington and Front streets. These streets cross the railroad tracks at right angles. The distance between them is about five hundred and fifty feet. There are two side-tracks north of the main tracks, practically parallel with the main tracks: The depot building is between the main tracks and the side-tracks, and the west end of the building is not far from the center point between Washington street and Front street. Along the side-tracks are two grain elevators, buildings for the storage of coal, warehouses and other buildings, constructed there for the purpose of receiving and discharging freight. On the south side of the main tracks opposite the depot building is a passenger shed and platform. A passenger walk extends from this passenger shed easterly to Front street and westerly to a point about one hundred feet west of the depot building. On the north side of the main tracks is the depot building proper, a building one hundred feet in length by thirty feet in width, with a platform and walk around it of from eight to ten feet in width. A passenger walk extends from the depot building and platform westerly about one hundred and twenty-five feet, and at the west end of this walk is a structure designated on the map as the milk station. North of the north side-track, and on a line a little west of the depot building, is a building used for the storage of coal, sixty feet in length by fifty feet in width. The proposed street across the main tracks and side-tracks-of the railroad company comes within about thirty feet of the depot building and within about twenty feet of the depot platform.

The railroad company filed a cross-petition, in which it claimed damages to property not taken but damaged by the laying out and opening of the street in question. It is set up in the cross-petition that the depot grounds comprise some seven and one-half acres; that the street will jjass through the grounds and cut off that portion west of the proposed street from the depot building; that the lands taken and the lands lying west of the proposed street have been, and are now being, used for unloading and loading merchandise and for the receipt and discharge of freight; that there is no freight depot at Naperville, and that the lands taken and those west of the depot are peculiarly adapted to the erection thereon of a depot, warehouses and other structures for railroad purposes, but that if the street is laid out the company cannot utilize that portion of the depot grounds west of the proposed street. The cross-petition contained other allegations, but it will not be necessary to set them out here.

The issues presented by the petition and cross-petition were submitted to a jury, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the railroad company of $150 for property taken and one dollar for damages to property not taken. The court overruled a motion for a new trial and rendered judgment on the verdict.

It is first claimed in the argument that the verdict of the jury is contrary to the evidence. As is usual in cases of this character, the evidence introduced by the respective parties is very conflicting. The petitioner introduced some five witnesses who reside at Naperville, and they united in testifying that the cash value of the property to be taken for the street, subject to the right of the railroad company to use it for railroad purposes, was merely nominal; that the land, unaffected by railroad tracks, was worth not exceeding $500. On the other hand, the railroad company called three or four witnesses who testified that in their opinion the damages to the seven and one-half acres owned by the railroad company by the extension of the street were from $3000 to $3600, and that the value of the land taken was from $700 to $800. Upon an examination of the evidence it appears that no street or highway has ever been laid out to the railroad station, but all the land south of the depot platform proposed to be taken has been open and used by the public for about twenty-five years, and on the north of the switch tracks, after passing the coal sheds of Boecker, the land proposed to be taken has also remained open and has been used by the public. The jury viewed the premises and saw the location of the main and side-tracks, the depot, its location and surroundings. What the jury learned upon an examination of the premises they had the right to consider, in connection with the other evidence, in arriving at the amount of damages to be allowed, and the rule is well settled that the damages awarded by a jury in a condemnation proceeding will not be disturbed where the evidence is conflicting and the jury viewed the premises. Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Railway Co. v. Lyons, 159 Ill. 576.

It is, however, said, that there is no evidence in the record on the question of damages to the property not taken except what was introduced by the defendant. This, we think, is a misapprehension of the record. Two of the witnesses for the petitioner, on their cross-examination, testified to the benefits to result to the railroad company from the opening of the street. John W. Collins, an old resident of Naperville, testified: “I have been personally familiar with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy depot and the surroundings since my earliest recollection, and also with Center street. The property just south of the tracks and north of Boecker’s building has been used as a street. I have been in the city council; it was six or seven years ago. I think the city maintained the sidewalk from the north end of South Center street to the tracks. The crossing has been there thirty years or more. That property has been open during that time. I am somewhat familiar with Park addition, and think I know the value of real estate in that vicinity.” In connection with this, there was the evidence of John M. Vallette, the surveyor, showing the location of the streets, railroad tracks, depot, and the manner in which the property had been used. In addition to this evidence there was the view of the jury. The view and the evidence alluded to were all proper for the consideration of the jury, in connection with the evidence offered by the defendant.

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Bluebook (online)
47 N.E. 734, 166 Ill. 87, 1897 Ill. LEXIS 2160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-burlington-quincy-railroad-v-city-of-naperville-ill-1897.