Griveau v. South Chicago City Railway Co.

130 Ill. App. 519, 1906 Ill. App. LEXIS 661
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 13, 1906
DocketGen. No. 12,513
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 130 Ill. App. 519 (Griveau v. South Chicago City Railway Co.) 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
Griveau v. South Chicago City Railway Co., 130 Ill. App. 519, 1906 Ill. App. LEXIS 661 (Ill. Ct. App. 1906).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Adams

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff in error was plaintiff and defendant in error defendant in the trial court. The plaintiff in her declaration avers, in substance, that she is the owner in fee simple of lot 6 in P. B. Law’s subdivision of the E. half, west of the Illinois Central railway, of the N. E. quarter of section 23, township 38 north, range 14 east of the third principal meridian, in the city of Chicago, and of a certain dwelling house and stores situated on said premises, of which she and her tenants, prior to the grievances complained of, had peaceable possession. Defendant purchased and became possessed of a piece or parcel of land next to and adjoining plaintiff’s said premises, and, by virtue of an ordinance of the city of Chicago, passed June 8, 1896, authorizing defendant' to construct and operate a street railway in Sixty-fourth street and Madison avenue, defendant entered upon and wrongfully constructed a railway loop over, upon and around said premises of the defendant, and has continuously operated street cars upon and around said loop portion of said railway, and defendant, in so doing, has permitted loud noises to be made and maintained; and defendant has constructed switches and turnouts in connection with and as part of said loop," and in the operation of its cars has caused plaintiff’s premises to be greatly shaken, jarred and vibrated. And defendant has constructed a depot or waiting room on its said, premises, with platforms and means of boarding its cars, which attracts large .crowds of passengers and others, who make boisterous, disturbing and disorderly noises, and defendant has not maintained order on its said premises, etc. The curve connecting defendant’s track on Madison avenue with said loop is contrary to law and said ordinance, and is directly in front of plaintiff’s premises, thereby cutting off and obstructing the entrance to said stores and premises of plaintiff and preventing ingress and egress to and from said premises. Here follow averments of damage.

At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s evidence the court, on the defendant’s motion, instructed the jury to find the defendant not guilty; the jury rendered a verdict accordingly, and the court, after overruling plaintiff’s motion for a new trial, rendered judgment on the verdict.

The bill of exceptions purports to contain the substance of all the evidence, and is so certified by the trial judge. The plaintiff introduced evidence tending to prove that she had been in possession and occupation of the premises at numbers 6327 and 6329 Madison avenue, in the city of Chicago, from 1889 till 1902. The premises numbered as stated are between Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth streets, which are east and west streets, and are on the east side of Madison avenue, a north and south street.

The evidence showed that the premises at 6327 and 6329 Madison avenue had a frontage of about fifty feet on Madison avenue and extended east therefrom to the. right of way of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, the west line of which said right of way was forty-three and one-half feet from the rear end of the building upon the premises at 6327 and 6329 Madison aveune; that upon said right of way of the Illinois Central Railroad Company were eight railroad tracks, over which passed daily a large number of freight, through passenger and local suburban passenger trains of the Illinois Central Railroad, Michigan Central Railroad and Big Four Railroad that about 240 feet north of the north line of the premises at 6327 and 6329 Madison avenue was the elevated railroad of the South Side Elevated Railroad Company, over which said elevated railroad passed daily a large number of passenger trains; that underneath said elevated railroad on Sixty-third street were two tracks of the Chicago City Bailway Company, upon which were run daily a large number of street cars, all of which railroads were so operated prior to 1895. The evidence also showed that Madison avenue in about 1892, and later during the World’s Fair of 1893, became a business street between Sixty-third street and Sixty-fourth street; that in 1889 a two-story frame house was built by plaintiff upon the premises of 6327 and 6329 Madison avenue, to be used as a dwelling house; that in 1892 the said frame building was raised and one-story brick walls were placed under said frame building by plaintiff, making the ground floor of said building into two small stores. The evidence also showed that in 1896 the defendant bought lots immediately north of the premises at 6327 and 6329 Madison avenue, which, said lots bought by defendant have a frontage on Madison avenue of one hundred feet; that said defendant thereupon constructed upon said lot a waiting room, surrounded by a loop track connected with the street car tracks of the defendant company in the center of Madison avenue by turnout tracks, all of which is shown upon certain plats in evidence; that defendant thereafter operated cars around said loop, and used its lot as a terminal station in the operation of its street railway; that in the usual course of things cars entered on the north side of said loop and stopped before starting on the south side of said loop near Madison avenue.

The evidence also tended to prove that street cars were operated on the loop, on the defendant’s premises, at all times of the day and until late at night', and, at intervals, all night, and that bells were rung-on the cars before they were started from the loop; and that the cars, in passing around the loop, sometimes caused the wheels to bind on the rails, which produced a screeching noise, at times when defendant had neglected to have the rails greased, and so the rails were dry. The evidence also tended to show that passengers and other persons intending to become passengers of defendant sometimes came upon said premises of defendant and the public street adjacent thereto and were disorderly with respect to shouting and making boisterous noises, and that sometimes, on Sunday mornings during the fishing and hunting season, a considerable number of men assembled at said loop terminal station and on the public street adjacent thereto, waiting to become passengers going"-to the outskirts of the city for the purpose of hunting and fishing, and that they created noises that disturbed the rest and quiet of the plaintiff and her tenants whilé she was occupying the said premises at 6327 and 6329 Madison avenue.

There was no evidence that any servant, agent or employe of the defendant ever made any of the noises or disturbances above mentioned, or that defendant, or any of its officers, agents or employes, encouraged or negligently permitted the same. The foregoing evidence tending to prove noises was excluded by the court, on the defendant’s motion. The court also excluded on defendant’s motion evidence offered by the plaintiff tending to prove that noises were heard at 6327 and 6329 Madison avenue from the passage of cars over the frogs .and turnout tracks in Madison avenue, connecting the defendant’s main tracks in that avenue with the loop track. Certain witnesses called by "the plaintiff testified that the construction of the loop, the operation of cars over the same, and over the track leading from the main tracks on Madison avenue to the loop, the conduct of passengers on the cars, and on the defendant’s premises, and the public street adjacent theréto, depreciated the value of the plaintiff’s property to sums ranging from $3,000 to $5,000. These witnesses were the only witnesses who testified to depreciation in value of plaintiff’s property.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
130 Ill. App. 519, 1906 Ill. App. LEXIS 661, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griveau-v-south-chicago-city-railway-co-illappct-1906.