Interurban Railway Co. v. City of Des Moines

197 Iowa 1398
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 7, 1922
StatusPublished

This text of 197 Iowa 1398 (Interurban Railway Co. v. City of Des Moines) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Interurban Railway Co. v. City of Des Moines, 197 Iowa 1398 (iowa 1922).

Opinion

Arthur, C. J.

I. The petition alleges the corporate capacity of plaintiff; that it is engaged in business as a common • carrier, in which capacity it operates an interurban railway within the city limits, and that, in furtherance of such business, it has constructed a spur track on property lying west of Sixth Avenue across New York Avenue in the city of Des Moines; that said track was laid across the street substantially at right angles with the street, and with the consent of the property owners on both sides, and in front of which the said track crossed said street; and that said track was to be used for transportation of freight only, and not for the passing of any passenger, baggage, or combination car. The petition further alleges that the city of Des Moines and its street commissioners have wrongfully interfered with plaintiff’s track at the crossing so made, and propose to tear it up and remove it from said street. To restrain such action an injunction is prayed.

Answering the petition, defendants deny the plaintiff’s authority to lay its track across said street without the authority or consent of the city council, and deny that such consent has [1400]*1400ever been asked or granted. Defendant further alleged that plaintiff is an interurban railway, the cars of which are operated by electricity, and that said railway within the city of Des Moines is a street railway, subject to the laws, rules, and regulations applicable to street railways; that plaintiff’s railway extends beyond the corporate limits of Des Moines to another city; that plaintiff was operating under Ordinance 2406 of the 1916 Revised Ordinances of the city of Des Moines; that, under the terms of said ordinance, plaintiff is required, before laying its tracks upon any street in the city of Des Moines, or before extending its track across said street, to first secure consent of the city council and the superintendent of streets; that no such consent has been secured; and that plaintiff unlawfully maintains its spur track on and across New York Avenue.

The cause was submitted to the court below on a stipulation of facts dictated into the record by counsel. The stipulation is quite extensive, and contains matters having no very essential bearing upon the merits of the controversy. .Material facts set forth in the stipulation and relied upon by plaintiff are as follows:

“It is hereby stipulated by and between the parties hereto that the city of Des Moines is a municipal corporation, organized and existing under the laws of Iowa; that the Interurban Railway Company is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of Iowa, and engaged in the operation of an interurban railway extending from Des Moines to the town of Perry, and from Des Moines to the town of Colfax; that it is engaged in transportation of passengers and freight by electric motor power; that, on or about the 1st day of August, 1920, the Interurban Railway Company began the construction of a freight spur track across certain property that belonged to the Consumers Ice Company, the Consumers Ice Company owning the property on both sides of New York Avenue; that the said freight track or spur track was constructed in such a manner as that it was not in front of any property abutting, upon a street, except the property of the Consumers Ice Company, who consented to the construction of the track;.and that it was constructed for the purpose of hauling freight to their plant and other plants along the line of the spur track, some then in existence and [1401]*1401others in contemplation; that on the 15th day of May, 1920, there was served upon W. H. McHenry, General Counsel of the Interurban Eailway Company, a letter signed by E. Tracy Blag-burn, as follows:
“ ‘You and each of you are hereby notified that it has come to the attention of the Department of Streets and Public Improvements of the city of Des Moines, that an industrial track is being constructed by the Consumers Ice Co., and under the direction of the 'Interurban Eailway Co., over and along certain private property north of New York Ave., between 6th and 7th Sts., and that it is the intention of the said Consumers Ice Co. and Interurban Eailway Co. to conduct said track over and across New York Ave., to private property controlled by the Consumers Ice Co., and
“ ‘Whereas, neither the Consumers Ice Co., or the Interurban Eailway Co., have obtained permission from the city of Des Moines by proper procedure to cross said New York Ave. at any point west of 6th Ave., by ordinance of the city of Des Moines, therefore, by direction of the corporation counsel of the city of Des Moines, you and each of you are hereby notified not to cross said New York Ave. west of 6th Ave. with said track, unless appli,cation is made to the city council and fight to cross said street be granted by ordinance in the regular manner, and further,
“ ‘That if said track be constructed across New York Ave. west of 6th Ave., by the Consumers Ice Co. under the direction of the Interurban Eailway Co. the city of Des Moines will immediately cause said track to be torn up and laid aside.’
“It is further stipulated and agreed that the line shown on the plat Exhibit ‘A’ is built on the property of the Consumers Ice Company, by their consent, and that the said track is used and can be used only for the transportation of freight, and not for passenger service. The said spur track referred to and in controversy here turns off of the main track of the Interurban Eailway Company north of Corning Street, as shown in yellow on the plat Exhibit ‘A’; * * * that the Interurban Eailway Company owns its own track, beginning at the Belt Line bridge across the Des Moines Eiver, running from thence to Perry and Colfax, and south of the Belt Line bridge the tracks belong to [1402]*1402the Iowa Terminal Company, each company owning its own poles, electric wires, and overhead equipment.”

Material facts contained in the stipulation relied upon by defendant are as follows:

“That, prior to the service of the notice which has been marked Exhibit ‘B,’ the city had passed a resolution directing the legal department to secure by condemnation all of the ground within the following limits, for park and - athletic purposes, shown by plat Exhibit ‘A, and bounded as follows: Beginning at a point somewhere just north .of Holcomb Avenue, and extending north to Corning Street, the width of the tract to be 132 feet west of the west line of Sixth Avenue; and that the city had also, prior to the serving of the notice of suit, passed a resolution and directed the condemnation of all ground, including the ground over which the switch track in question was later built, west of Sixth Avenue and north of Holcomb, and south of Corning, east of Seventh Street. We would like also in the record that the Interurban Railway Company does not now have and never has had any franchise or other grant from the city of Des Moines for the operation of its street railway within the limits, except such right or grant or franchise as may be contained'in what is known as Ordinance No. 2406 of the 1916 Revised Ordinances of the city of Des Moines, the ordinance referred to being found on pages 790 to and including page 825, which is known as the franchise ordinance 'of the Des Moines City Railway Company.”

II.

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Bluebook (online)
197 Iowa 1398, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interurban-railway-co-v-city-of-des-moines-iowa-1922.