Cincinnati, Columbus & Wooster Turnpike Co. v. City of Cincinnati

6 Ohio N.P. 233
CourtCourt of Common Pleas of Ohio, Hamilton County
DecidedJuly 1, 1897
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Ohio N.P. 233 (Cincinnati, Columbus & Wooster Turnpike Co. v. City of Cincinnati) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Common Pleas of Ohio, Hamilton County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cincinnati, Columbus & Wooster Turnpike Co. v. City of Cincinnati, 6 Ohio N.P. 233 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1897).

Opinion

Charge of the court.

Pfleger, J.

Gentlemen of the Jury:

The law of Ohio provides that where the limits of a city are extended and a toll house is brought within such limits, or within 80 rods (that is about 1320 feet) thereof, the turnpike company shall remove such toll gate to a point on its road not nearer to such limits than 80 rods, and so much of its road as is included within the limits of such city shall become a public street, and no toll shall thereafter be taken; but compensation shall be made to the turnpike company for the damages it will sustain 1 y reason of such removal of its tell gate and surrender of such part' of its road, and if the turnpike company and the city do net agree thereon, the damages shall be ascertained in proceedings which the municipal authorities shall commence to appropriate such property to the use aforesaid, or, [234]*234in default of such agreement or the institution of such proceedings, the turnpike company, at any time after the removal of the toll gate may recover the same from the city by civil action. The plaintiff, the Cincinnati, Columbus and Wooster Turnpike Company, under such law brought this action against the city of Cincinnati,and claims that on or about January 1st, 1896, the property lying in the village of Linwood was annexed to the city of Cincinnti, and that this territory included about seven-eighths of a miie cf turnpike belonging to the plaintiff company, and extended from the east line of Archer street on the west to the northeast corporation line of the city of Cincinnati as extended, on the east; and claims that on or about October 8th, 1898, in a s lit brought by the state of Ohio cn the relatiou of the prosecuting attorney of Hamilton county against said turnpike company la the circuit court of Hamilton county, Ohio, a decree was entered ordering that the plaintiff company be ousted of the right and privilege cf taking toll at the gate established between said points, and claims that thereafter, plaintiff was compelled to remove or abandon its toll gate and cease cllecting tolls, and said portion of the turnpike m fact became the property cf the city of Cincinnati. Plaintiff claims that no agreement was had with the city authorities to ascertain the compensation to be paid for the loss of said turnpike, no suit was brought by the city of Cincinnati to assess such compensation and in accordance with said law it renders a deed for such portion of the turnpike property and asks that damages be paid to it as compensation for the value of suoh turnpike and damages tc the residue of its pike beyond the presont eastern boundary line of the city, and for its toll house and other property, situated upen and appurtenant thereto as detailed to you by the evidence.

These facts are practically admitted by the city of Cincinnati, exoept that it denies that there is any damage to the residue, and joins in the prayer that a jury assess reasonable compensation therefor. You are therefore impanelled as jurors to assess such damages.

Your main inquiry is, what is the fair and reasonable cash value on or about October 8th, 1898, of this turnpike property, and its appurtenances, such as toll house, bridge, etc., including the road-bed between the east line of Archer street on the west, and Langdon avenue on the east, (about seven-eighths of a mile) as well as the damage, if any, to the residue of the property. The actual extent of pike so appropriated will be designated by me as of a mile” for the purpose of identification. By damage to the residue is meant in addition to the damages caused by the taking of this seven-eighths of a mile of pike, such damages as are shown to have been caused by the taking of such seven-eighths cf a mile, and which has affected or impaired the value or proportionate income from the remainder of the pike, running from the present eastern corporation line to Goshen. If you find such damage to exist, the amount so lost should be added to the damage of the seven-eighths of a mile of pike taken. In other words, the total damage should be a fair and reasonable compensation to the turnpike company for being deprived of its property rights so appropriated by the city, preventing the turnpike company from collecting any tolls on this portion of the pike in the future, and the loss of toll, if any, to the residue of the pike. If you find, however, from a preponderance of the evidence that, notwithstanding the taking or cutting off of this S9ven-eighths of a mile of pike, the turnpike company would not be affected or would not luse any income which will in the future come over this pike, between Langdon avenue, or the present eastern corporation line, and the remainder of its pike to Goshen, then there would be no damage to the residue, and any consideration of damages in that regard should not be included in your estimate. In determining the value to be assessed, all of the property so appropriated can not be definitely ascertained by the ordinary [235]*235rules of determining values of other property, that is, by the “market value”. You have recourse, therefore, mainly to two methods of estimating ■such values:

First: By ascertaining in detail and separately the value of the franchise of the turnpike company to do business on this portion of the. pike, and its title to the road, whether it be fee simple or easement (or right of way) •over such portion; the value of the metal or materials placed on the road bed, including the grading, cutting and filling; the value of the bridge, -the toll house and the culvert (if you find the culvert is not now ii. the city limits, or a portion of it only). This method I will call for brevity sake, the direct method.

Secondly: The other mode I will designate as the capitalization method. That is, to fix the capital investment •cf this particular seven-eighths of' a mile of pike from the net earnings of •such portion of the pike. In other words, to capitalize such earnings at such percentage as the permanency of the investment for the future will justify. If the income is likely to last perpetuall}7 and forever, then such investment is safer, and the percentage of capitalization would be smaller. If, on the other haud the income may not last forever, or may be interfered with or affected in any way, then the rate of capitalization would be higher, increasing with the danger to its duration or continuance.

We will take up the direct method first.

First: In fixing a value upon these things in detail, you should fix the values as they existed on or about October 8th, 1898, at the time the turnpike company ceased to take tell. These values must always be the cash worth; not the cost, because people may pay for things more or less than they are actually worth. The court has permitted the introduction of testimony of the cost of a thing, but this was only as a guide to the actual worth, or for other reasons, and you -should,not be misled thereby. ■

Roadway: Your first inquiry under this head will be, the franchise and right of way in this strip of ground between Archer street and the present east corporation line, without any improvements, metal, grading, toll house, bridge or culvert. Ascertain the dimensions of the roadway; its length and width. There is but little conflict as to its length; there is conflict as to the width of the same. You should find from a preponderance of the evidence what the actual width of the roadway was.

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Bluebook (online)
6 Ohio N.P. 233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cincinnati-columbus-wooster-turnpike-co-v-city-of-cincinnati-ohctcomplhamilt-1897.