City of Chicago v. Spoor

91 Ill. App. 472, 1900 Ill. App. LEXIS 108
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 29, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 91 Ill. App. 472 (City of Chicago v. Spoor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Chicago v. Spoor, 91 Ill. App. 472, 1900 Ill. App. LEXIS 108 (Ill. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Windes

delivered the opinion of the court.

Cbunsel for appellant, besides numerous points specially relied upon in his brief and argument, adds thereto seventy-seven different points under the heading of “ Errors relied upon,” by reason of which he claims the judgment should be reversed. Ho argument is made in support of many of these seventy-seven points, and under repeated decisions of this and the Supreme Court the points not argued must be considered as waived. It is not enough for counsel to say in his brief that the court erred in giving a specific instruction or in the admission or exclusion of certain evidence, or that the judgment is excessive, or that the court should have sustained a motion for a new trial, but he should show how or in what way the particular ruling of the court was erroneous.

The complaints of counsel, which are more or less specific, as to alleged error in the record, are so numerous that to refer to them and discuss them in detail would extend this opinion beyond all reasonable bounds, impose a needless and useless burden upon the court, and in our opinion could serve no beneficial purpose. It seems sufficient to say, in this connection, that we have carefully considered all the specific contentions of counsel, and except as they are below particularly mentioned, we think they could not be sustained.

It is claimed for appellant, that the court at the close of all the evidence should have directed a verdict for it, because there was no valid authority shown for the construction of the viaduct in question, and therefore that the city was not liable in damages by reason of its construction.

There was offered in evidence a copy of a resolution of the city council, dated January 6, 1896, and passed on that day, which, after reciting previous orders of the council and certain matters showing the necessity for the viaduct by reason of the crossing at grade of the railroad tracks of the Union Stock Yards & Transit Co. and the introduction of electric cai's by the Chicago City Hail way Co. on Halsted street, by which the mayor and commissioner of public works are directed to cause plans to be forthwith prepared for the viaduct in question, and to let the necessary contracts for the construction of the same upon obtaining from said two companies, or either of them, an agreement to provide all moneys required to meet such contract. It was stipulated on the hearing between counsel that the construction of the viaduct under said order was commenced about the middle of February, 1896, and was completed about the end of September, 1896.

This order of the common council and the stipulation that the viaduct was constructed under the order, is sufficient, in our opinion, to fix the liability of the city of Chicago for any damages to appellees’ property resulting therefrom, and it is immaterial, as contended for appellant, that it was not shown that any ordinance was passed by the common council for the construction of the viaduct, nor that the viaduct was constructed under a contract executed with the city, nor whether the money to pay for the viaduct came from the city treasury, nor that an appropriation had been made to pay for the cost of the work. The authorities cited by counsel for appellant in this regard are inapplicable. It is sufficient to fix the liability of the city that the viaduct in question was constructed by means of or through the action of the common council. City of Chicago v. Turner, 80 Ill. 419, and cases cited; City of Chicago v. C. & W. 1. R. R. Co., 105 Ill. 73; Culbertson, etc., Co. v. City of Chicago, 111 Ill. 651.

Indeed, when such a structure as aviaduct is found in the streets of a city, that of itself is presumptive evidence that the city is responsible for its erection. City of Chicago v. Johnson, 53 Ill. 93; Village of Jefferson v. Chapman, 127 Ill. 446.

In the Turner case, supra, it was said (referring to the case of City of Pekin v. Newell, 26 Ill. 320), “ If a city is authorized to construct a highway in a particular manner, but does it in a different one, it will be answerable in damages to a party sustaining injury upon it, as much as though it had not exceeded or deviated from its authority. So, there, also, there was no question of power, but only as to the lawfulness of its execution,” and held that a municipality is liable for its acts within its general power, though irregularly authorized or done. .

The same principle is announced in the second case above cited, 105 Ill. 85, in the following language :

“We recognize the doctrine to be, that the unauthorized acts of municipal officers are regarded as the acts of the corporation, provided the acts are performed by that branch of the municipal government Avhich is invested with jurisdiction to act for the corporation upon the subject to Avhich the particular act relates.”

In the Culbertson case, supra, Avhich was an action upon the case for damages in consequence of the construction of a viaduct Avhich Avas partly paid for by a raihvay company and the work done under the joint superintendence of the department of public works and the engineer of the raihvay company, it Avas held that the company Avas not liable for damages sustained by adjacent property owners, and that the improAT'ement Avas the property of the city, that it alone was liable for damages to the property owner, as it alone had power to go upon the street and erect the viaduct. It is not and can not be successfully contended that the city had ample power to construct .this viaduct.

For appellant it is claimed that the trial court erroneously refused to allow it to be shown, on the cross-examination of the appellee Spoor, whether he claimed damages for other lots owned by appellees in the same block as those for which the suit was brought, some fronting upon South Halsted street and immediately south of the lots in question, and the others fronting on Emerald avenue and separated from the lots in question by an alley sixteen feet wide; also in refusing to allow appellant to show by witnesses called for the defense that those same lots south of the lots in question on Halsted street and the lots fronting on Emerald avenue were benefited by the construction of the viaduct in question.

So far as concerns the lots on Halsted street, south of the lots for which damages are claimed, there was no evidence offered, either on the cross-examination of Mr. Spoor or by appellants’ witnesses, so far as shown by the record, and therefore that part of the contention need not be further considered.

As to the lots fronting on Emerald avenue, we are of the opinion that the evidence was properly excluded, because it is wholly immaterial in this case what benefits, if any, were caused by the construction of the viaduct to the lots on Emerald avenue, they being separated from the lots in question by an alley sixteen feet wide.

It was held in the case of White v. West Side El. R. R. Co., 154 Ill. 620-6, that where a railroad company sought to condemn a part of a lot in one block and the defendant, by cross-petition, sought to collect damages to another block owned by him, and separated by a street thirty feet wide from the lot sought to be condemned, no such damages could be allowed. The court say:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hoffman v. Chicago Wood & Coal Co.
162 Ill. App. 332 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1911)
Omensky v. Gieske
125 Ill. App. 77 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1905)
Dowie v. Priddle
116 Ill. App. 184 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1904)
Lanquist v. City of Chicago
65 N.E. 681 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1902)
Cram v. City of Chicago
94 Ill. App. 199 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1901)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
91 Ill. App. 472, 1900 Ill. App. LEXIS 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-chicago-v-spoor-illappct-1900.