Henry Gaus & Sons Manufacturing Co. v. St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad

20 S.W. 658, 113 Mo. 308, 1892 Mo. LEXIS 32
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 31, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 20 S.W. 658 (Henry Gaus & Sons Manufacturing Co. v. St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henry Gaus & Sons Manufacturing Co. v. St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad, 20 S.W. 658, 113 Mo. 308, 1892 Mo. LEXIS 32 (Mo. 1892).

Opinion

Macearlane, J.

This suit is to enjoin defendant from laying a track and operating a railroad laterally along Main street in the City of St. Louis in front of the property of plaintiff until compensation for damages thereto should be ascertained and paid. Upon a trial in the circuit court, plaintiff’s petition was dismissed and they appealed. A preliminary injunction which was granted at the beginning of the suit was dissolved, and the road had been built and was in use when the case was tried..

The petition charged, and the evidence showed that Main street is, and for many years has been an improved, graded, guttered, curbed and paved public highway, running north and south through the city of St. Louis; that plaintiffs own the entire block fronting on Main street between Clinton and Madison streets, and have thereon a two story and basement, factory, having a front of two hundred and forty feet [313]*313by a depth eastwardly of one hundred and thirty feet, which was erected for the special purpose of, and was adapted by its construction to use as a planing mill, sash, door, blind and box factory and was used as such; that the building fronts on Main street and is so constructed that the only front which is adapted fon receiving and shipping lumber from the street, is the Main street front; that the building is constructed with doors and drive ways opening on Main street for the purpose of receiving lumber and shipping out the product of its said factory; that Main street has a width of eighty feet; that the Merchants’ Terminal Railroad Company has also a double track railway along said street, the easternmost rail being within fifteen and one half feet of the curb in front of the factory; that plaintiffs and their customers had theretofore had free access to said factory by driving wagons and other vehicles over Main street to its front, and, for the purpose of carrying thither or removing therefrom lumber or mill work, have been able to enter said premises from Main street front by means of •doors and entrances provided, and have been able to have wagons, and vehicles stand on the street, in front of the factory, for the purpose of receiving and discharging lumber and mill work; that there is in front of said premises a side walk made of plank and cinders fifteen feet wide from the building line to the curb of the street; that the defendant threat ened and was about to occupy and obstruct said street by laying thereon in front of said factory, and operating by steam locomotives thereon, double tracks, thereby permanently obstructing said street, and not leaving space between the track and the building sufficient to permit of standing wagons and other vehicles, without constant danger of collision with engines and cars passing to and fro over said tracks, all of which would [314]*314wholly destroy the usé of the street as a thoroughfare, and tend to manifest wrong and injury of plaintiff, and damage of his said property. The damage to the property as charged consisted in the prevention of free ingress and egress to and from the streets, noise and smoke, damage from fires, shaking and vibration of building, all caused by the passage of engines and cars over the street in such proximity to the premises.

Defendant answered, setting up authority by virtue of an ordinance of the city, granting it the license and right to construct a double track railroad along Main street. The ordinance required that the tracks should conform to established grades of the street crossed and occupied. The ordinance and its provisions were not denied. The evidence satisfies us that the tracks were built in a careful and skillful manner and in compliance with the requirements of the ordinance.

I. We are satisfied from an examination of the evidence that plaintiff’s property has been somewhat depreciated in value by reason of the construction of the railroad along the street, and the movements of engines and trains thereon. The inquiry to be made is whether the damages thus inflicted are such as are contemplated by section 21, article 2, of the state constitution, which ordains: “That private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.”

It is not claimed by plaintiff that there was any physical injury done to their property, or that their possession was disturbed. It was also shown to our satisfaction, or conceded under the pleadings, that Main street was dedicated without restrictions to general use as a highway; that defendant was authorized by the charter and ordinances of the city to lay its tracks along said street, and to move thereon cars, propelled by steam locomotives, for the transportation of persons and [315]*315property; and that the track was laid on the established grade of the street, and was constructed in a careful and skillful manner, and in strict compliance with the requirements of the ordinance.

On the other hand, it must be conceded by defendant, because it is too well settled to admit of question, that every owner of a lot abutting on a public street, beside the ownership of the property itself, has rights appurtenant thereto, which form a part of the estate. Those rights are said to be “as much property as the lot itself. ” Of these may be named an easement for the free admission of light and pure air, and the right of ingress and egress to and from his property. Rude v. St. Louis, 93 Mo. 413; Lackland v. Railroad, 31 Mo. 183; Story v. Railroad, 90 N. Y. 145; Adams v. Railroad, 39 N. W. Rep. (Minn.), 629; Railroad v. Heisel, 38 Mich. 62.

In the last case cited, the right is well expressed as follows: “Every lot owner has a‘peculiar interest in the adjacent street, which neither the local nor the general public can pretend to claim; a private right in the nature of an incorporeal hereditament, legally attached to his contiguous ground; an incidental title to certain facilities and franchises/ which is in the nature of property, and which can no more be appropriated against his will than any tangible property of which he may be owner.” Depriving the owner of these incorporeal hereditaments, or interfering with their full enjoyment, by appropriating the street to anew and different public use to that originally contemplated, would undoubtedly be a damage within the foregoing constitutional provision.

In the Van De Vere Case, 107 Mo. 91, the question as to what would constitute a damage, where there was no physical invasion of the property itself, was very carefully considered by this court. After quoting [316]*316approvingly the views of some of our most eminent text writers, the court, speaking through Judge Black, of the right of one to recover damages, said: “What we do say is this, that he must show that the property itself, or some right or easement connected therewith, is directly affected, and that it is specially affected.” We think a public use which would interfere with these incorporeal rights, whereby the property was depreciated in value, would be a damage to the property within the meaning of the constitution, and would entitle the owner to compensation.

II. The vital question in this case we do not think turns upon the character of the rights of plaintiffs which were interfered with, but whether there was an interference at all. In other words, the question is whether laying the railroad track in the street, on grade, under municipal authority and operating the road in the usual manner, was applying the street to a new

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

Related

Filger v. State Highway Commission of Missouri
355 S.W.2d 425 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1962)
Stout v. Frick
62 S.W.2d 1057 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1933)
Bowers v. City of Taylor
24 S.W.2d 816 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1930)
Wright v. Wabash Railroad
160 S.W. 549 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1913)
Ashurst v. Lohoefner
156 S.W. 805 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1913)
B'ham Ry. L. & P. Co. v. Smyer
61 So. 354 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1913)
Kipp v. Davis-Daly Copper Co.
110 P. 237 (Montana Supreme Court, 1910)
Wagner v. Bristol Belt Line Railway Co.
62 S.E. 391 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1908)
Foudry v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad
109 S.W. 80 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1908)
Morie v. St. Louis Transit Co.
91 S.W. 962 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1906)
Ruckert v. Grand Avenue Railway Co.
63 S.W. 814 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1901)
Corby v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.
52 S.W. 282 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1899)
Hulett v. Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co.
80 Mo. App. 87 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1899)
Sherlock v. Kansas City Belt Railway Co.
43 S.W. 629 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1897)
Thomas v. Hunt
35 S.W. 581 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1896)
Knapp, Stout & Co. v. St. Louis Transfer Railway Co.
28 S.W. 627 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1894)
Montgomery v. Santa Ana Westminster Railway Co.
37 P. 786 (California Supreme Court, 1894)
Lockwood v. Wabash Railroad
24 L.R.A. 516 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1894)
Steffen v. Fox
56 Mo. App. 9 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1894)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 S.W. 658, 113 Mo. 308, 1892 Mo. LEXIS 32, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-gaus-sons-manufacturing-co-v-st-louis-keokuk-northwestern-mo-1892.