Chicago & Erie Railroad v. Hoffman

119 N.E. 169, 67 Ind. App. 281, 1918 Ind. App. LEXIS 163
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 4, 1918
DocketNo. 9,543
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 119 N.E. 169 (Chicago & Erie Railroad v. Hoffman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago & Erie Railroad v. Hoffman, 119 N.E. 169, 67 Ind. App. 281, 1918 Ind. App. LEXIS 163 (Ind. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

Felt, J.

This is a proceeding by appellant against appellees to condemn real estate for drainage purposes in pursuance of §929 et- seq. Burns 1914, Acts [283]*2831905 p. 59. The error assigned is the overruling of appellant’s motion for a new trial.

Appellee Charles H. Hoffman owned the land sought to be appropriated, ánd Carrie N. Hoffman is his wife. Omitting formal averments, the complaint in substance shows: That appellant sought to condemn and appropriate certain real estate owned by Charles H. Hoffman, for its use as an easement. “That said company intends to use said real estate for the right of way of its railroad, roadbed and tracks, including side tracks and switches, turnouts and water stations, materials for construction purposes sufficient to enable the plaintiff to construct and repair its railroad, and for making proper drains for its said right of way and roadbed. That the plaintiff and defendant were unable to agree for the purchase of said land, or an interest therein, or other property or right. That for the past two years said company has been engaged in building a second track of railroad upon its right of way through Fulton county, and other counties in this state, and over and upon the lands of the defendant. That in the construction of its second track, deep excavations were often required to be made and heavy fills required at other places in order to establish a uniform grade, or what is known as a reduced grade, which became necessary for the efficiency of said railroad and for the operation thereof; that in consequence thereof the drainage of the right of way was changed to the extent that the drainage along the single track became wholly insufficient in carrying off the water from the right of way precipitated in large quantities during heavy rains on said right of way;- that in order to meet the new conditions arising from the improve[284]*284ment of its railroad and the building of its drainage over and through defendants’ land, not only to protect said right of way and improvements, but all abutting landowners, that a change and enlargement of the system of drainage is imperative and necessary to the safety and usefulness of said railroad as well as for the benefit of the defendant and other adjacent landowners, to have a right of way over defendants ’ land to enable, said company to construct and repair its road and a. right to conduct the water, and the right of making proper drains.”

The complaint further shows the existence of two public ditches, duly established; that one of them is known as the Spera ditch, and the other as the Harsh ditch, the latter being the outlet of the former; that appellant was assessed benefits on the Spera ditch, which begins north of the company’s right of way, crosses under its tracks, and empties into the Harsh ditch at the south line of the public highway running east and west and upon the lands of said Hoffman; that appellant is enlarging the Spera ditch to carry off additional water accumulated as the result of double tracking and reducing the grade of appellant’s road which crosses the Spera ditch; that the specific purpose of this appropriation is to provide a more efficient outlet for said drainage on the lands of defendants, not to destroy the Harsh ditch, but to clean out and enlarge the same to sufficient capacity to carry off the water emptied into it from the Spera ditch, “and to create an easement thereon so that said company can effectually maintain necessary drainage for the protection of its right of way and the operation of its railroad”; that an ineffectual effort to reach an agreement with appellees as to the damages, if any [285]*285occasioned by the proposed appropriation had beer made; that the property to be condemned has been duly surveyed and located as shown by “Exhibit A” filed with the complaint.

Appraisers were duly appointed, who reported that there was no value to the real estate to be appropriated, and that no damages resulted to the residue of appellee’s land, by reason of the appropriation. Appellees excepted to the report so made and alleged that they were damaged by the appropriation in the sum of $2,000. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict for appellees in the sum of $600. Appellant’s motion for a new trial was overruled.

A new trial was asked on the ground that the court erred in the admission of certain evidence and in the giving and refusal of certain instructions; that the assessment of the amount of recovery is erro: neous, being too large; that the verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence, and is contrary to law.

Without substantial conflict in the evidence, it appears that at the time this proceeding was instituted, appellee Charles H. Hoffman owned 178 acres of real estate in Fulton county, Indiana, 115 acres of which lay north, and 63 acres south, of appellant’s railroad. Long prior to filing its instrument of appropriation in this case, appellant purchased from appellees the right of way for its double-track road off of the 115 acres aforesaid, and appellee purchased from appellant twenty-three acres of real estate south of the railroad. Appellee also owns about forty acres south of the railroad right of way, through which the Harsh ditch runs. The original line of single track railroad wa.s built in 1881 and the right of way for double tracking the road was procured in 1912 and 1913, at [286]*286which, time appellant purchased from appellee three or four acres north of and adjoining its track's. Appellant also acquired a tract of land from other parties south of its road and subsequently conveyed a part of it to appellee, the same being the twenty-three acres aforesaid; but'for the railroad appellee’s land would be contiguous. He operates it as one farm.

There is also evidence tending to prove that about six months after appellee had purchased the twenty-three .acres, and some two years after appellant acquired three or four acres from appellee for right of way as aforesaid, appellant instituted this proceeding to provide additional drainage which ij; found to be necessary; that the changes appellant was making in its road, besides double tracking, involved cutting down a very high grade for a distance of about two miles and lowering it from twenty to thirty-two feet. The change in grade resulted in a change in the flow of surface water, the collection of water from a highway, for about eighty rods of its length and the collection of water from fifty to eighty acres of real estate, that formerly, and naturally, flowed in the opposite direction to other and different outlets, and the flowing of such waters along appellant’s right of way and turning the same upon appellee’s land. By such changes in grade and ditches, appellant brought large quantities of additional waters so gathered and accumulated as aforesaid, along and across its right of way, down steep grades to a point opposite the lowest part of appellee’s land, where it made an opening through its embankment, placed large tile therein, and discharged the water with increased concentration and greater force, and thereby caused the same to flood appellees’ land after every hard rain.

[287]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
119 N.E. 169, 67 Ind. App. 281, 1918 Ind. App. LEXIS 163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-erie-railroad-v-hoffman-indctapp-1918.