Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Born

96 N.E. 777, 49 Ind. App. 62, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 208
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 12, 1911
DocketNo. 7,361
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 96 N.E. 777 (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Born) 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
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Born, 96 N.E. 777, 49 Ind. App. 62, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 208 (Ind. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

Ibach, P. J.

Appellees, Edward Bom and Theresa Bom, partners doing a coal, wood and' ice business under the firm name of Samuel Bom & Co., sued appellant for damages, caused by the act of appellant on November 12, 1905, in unlawfully and wrongfully entering upon the premises oc[64]*64cupied by appellees under a lease, and used by them in conducting their said business, and destroying certain buildings thereon, and certain personal property ‘consisting of a traction engine and other machinery, some harness, oats, corn, hay, coal and coke. Issues were formed upon the amended complaint of appellees and appellant’s answer in general denial, and a trial by jury resulted in a judgment in favor of appellees for $2,085.50, interest and costs.

The errors relied on for reversal arise upon the overruling of the motion for a new trial and are as follows: (1) Refusing to give instructions five and six requested by defendant; (2) refusing to give instructions nineteen and twenty asked by defendant; (3) refusing to sustain defendant’s motion to strike out certain testimony of plaintiffs1’ witnesses Isaac Born and Edward Born; (4) refusing to give instruction sixteen, asked by defendant; (5) giving instruction eleven, at plaintiffs’ request.

1. Appellees insist that this court is not required to consider the questions appellant has attempted to present on the action of the trial court in overruling the motion for a new trial, for the reason that the evidence is not brought before us by a proper bill of exceptions. On this) point, suffice to say that the greater part of the irregularities in the transcript upon which appellees rely to sustain their contention have been removed by the clerk’s! amended certificate, filed by leave of this court. We are convinced, after a careful reference to the authorities cited by both appellees and appellant, that the evidence is properly before us, and as the case must be affirmed on its merits, appellees will not be heard to complain because we considered the evidence.

2. Instructions five and six, requested by appellant, would have told the jury that unless it found from the evidence that Theresa Born, to whom, as his widow, Samuel Bom, in his will, left his interest in the partnership business of Samuel Born & Co., had within ninety days [65]*65after the probate of said will elected to take under its provisions, then no interest in the property of Samuel Born & Co. would pass to her under the will, and she would take under the law only one-third of her husband’s personal property, and the remainder of his personal property would descend to his children.

The substance of these instructions, as far as they relate to the evidence in the ease, was contained fully in instructions one, two, three and four, given at defendant’s request, which told the jury that before plaintiffs could recover for any damage to the property, they must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that they were on November 12, 1905, the owners as partners of the property proved to have been damaged; that if the evidence shows that on November 12, 1905, Edward Born, as surviving partner, or any other person, was the owner of or had any interest in such property, the plaintiffs could not recover; that if the plaintiffs did not prove that the title to the property owned by the firm of Samuel Born & Co. passed to said plaintiffs prior to November 12,1905, they could not recover; and that the mere fact that, shortly after the death of Samuel Born, Theresa Born and Edward Bom agreed to carry on the business of Samuel Bom & Co., composed of Samuel Bom and Edward Born as partners, would not of itself transfer to the plaintiffs the title of any of the property owned by such firm.

3. The law applicable to the case as made by the issues was not correctly stated by instructions five and six. Plaintiffs sue as the parties in possession of the property destroyed, and for the deprivation of the use of the buildings and premises. They were not seeking to recover upon the the theory that they were the absolute owners of the property destroyed, but were relying on a possessory title, that was sufficient on which to base a cause of action.

In the case of Catterlin v. Douglass (1861), 17 Ind. 213, [66]*66the Supreme Court said: “An action will lie by a mere rightful possessor, against a wrongdoer, for an injury to the possessor’s rights.” This mile has become so well established in this State as well as other States, that we deem further consideration of it useless. Barber v. Barber (1863), 21 Ind. 468; Winship v. Clendenning (1865), 24 Ind. 439; Bristol Hydraulic Co. v. Boyer (1875), 67 Ind. 236; Ohio, etc., R. Co. v. Trapp (1892), 4 Ind. App. 69.

2. Instructions nineteen and twenty would have told the jury that unless it found from the evidence that the plaintiffs as partners were the owners of the entire interest in the property damaged, and not of an undivided interest only therein, they could not recover; and if it found from the evidence that other persons than the plaintiffs had an interest in the subject-matter of the action, then plaintiffs could not recover. These instructions, so far as applicable to the evidence, were covered by instructions one, two, three and four given, and, as said before, it was not necessary for plaintiffs to show an absolute title in order to recover in their action.

3. The third reason assigned for reversal is- the alleged error of the court in refusing to strike out the testimony of Edward Born and Isaac Bom as to the monthly rental value of the premises before and after the injury complained of. Isaac Born testified that before the injury the rental value was $93.33, and $25 after-wards. He was asked what additional facts he took into consideration when he gave the jury the rental value after the damage was done, and answered: “The fact that the buildings were destroyed stopped our line of business conduct, and obliged us, to a certain extent, to discontinue the coal, wood and ice business — obliged us to rent properties elsewhere and build on it.” Edward Born testified that the monthly rental value of the premises was $93 before the injury, and $30 afterwards. He was asked whether, in fixing that damage, he took into consideration the loss in the [67]*67business of Samuel Born & Co. He answered: “"We were-not able to conduct our business properly without the use of the buildings. ’ ’ The following questions were asked and answers given: Q. “In fixing the rental value, I will ask you whether you took into consideration what value to yourselves or to others than yourselves?” A. “Anybody engaged in the same line of business would have been damaged the same as ourselves.” Q. “Did you take into consideration any damage in fixing that value' — damage to your business, Samuel Born & Co?” A. “Yes; the damage because we did not have the buildings to operate with, our inability to operate properly without the buildings.”

4. Defendant moved to strike out the testimony as to the rental value, for the reasons that the witnesses stated in estimating such that they took into consideration the damage to their business, and the loss to the business was not specially averred in the complaint, and therefore was not within the issues of the cause.

5.

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Bluebook (online)
96 N.E. 777, 49 Ind. App. 62, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-v-born-indctapp-1911.