Kaw Valley Drainage District v. Missouri Pacific Railroad

195 P. 983, 108 Kan. 314, 1921 Kan. LEXIS 38
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedFebruary 12, 1921
DocketNo. 22,868
StatusPublished

This text of 195 P. 983 (Kaw Valley Drainage District v. Missouri Pacific Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kaw Valley Drainage District v. Missouri Pacific Railroad, 195 P. 983, 108 Kan. 314, 1921 Kan. LEXIS 38 (kan 1921).

Opinion

[315]*315The'opinion of the court was delivered by

Porter, J.:

Originally this was an action in mandamus brought by the drainage district to compel the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company and the Union Pacific Railroad Company to ■ raise the grade of certain railway tracks for a distance of 700 feet in order to close a gap between the high bluff on the Kansas river in Kansas City, and the end of a dike constructed by the drainage district. The tracks were about ten feet below the top of the dike. In November, 1916, a judgment was entered by consent of the parties by which the drainage district was granted a perpetual easement to construct and maintain its dike across the railway property with a provision that the drainage district should furnish certain material for filling the yards and tracks to permit the continuance of the operation of the railroad over the dike, at a grade of not to exceed one per cent. The trial court reserved jurisdiction of the action and of the parties to make any orders necessary to properly carry out the judgment. The appeal is from a supplemental order of the court in favor of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company under the following paragraph of the original judgment:

“7. From the point where said dike, as herein provided for, is constructed across the property of the defendant companies, the plaintiff is to furnish all necessary material for the filling of said defendant’s property up to a point approximately fifty feet south of James street bridge, so as to enable the said defendants to secure a grade of not to exceed one per cent. The defendants shall fill out the slope with spalls, and construct one-man riprap paving, at least ten inches thick, or concrete slab páving at least four inches thick, to protect the riverward slope of its right of way and road bed, and the said plaintiff is to pay said defendants therefor the actual cost thereof up to four thousand ($4,000.00) dollars, but not to exceed in any event either the actual cost or the sum of four thousand dollars, for filling out slopes with spalls, and placing one-man riprap paving, at least ten inches thick, or concrete slab paving at least four inches thick, to protect the riverward slope of its right of way and road bed from a point approximately fifty (50) feet south of the James street bridge to the dike so to be constructed across defendant’s property by said plaintiff, as herein provided for; and said sum is to be paid by said plaintiff to the defendants on completion of said work.
“This order is not to be construed as in any manner binding the plaintiff or defendant companies to maintain one-man riprap paving, or concrete slab paving, placed to protect defendant’s road and property; the maintenance of same being entirely optional with the defendants.”

[316]*316The Missouri Pacific Railroad Company began the construction of the revetment in the early part of 1917, and completed the work in August of the same year, when a bill for $4,000 was presented to the drainage district. Payment was refused and the appellee then filed its application for an order of the court requiring payment under the conditions of the decree of November 17,1916. The drainage district filed an answer consisting of a general denial and a defense that in constructing tñe dike, the appellee had not used “one-man riprap”; that the work had not been performed in conformity with the decree and had not been authorized by the district. The trial court determined the issues in favor of the appellee and found that the construction of the revetment exceeded the sum of $4,000; that the work was completed in accordance with the terms and provisions of the original judgment, and a supplemental judgment was entered requiring the drainage district to pay out of its general revenue funds $4,000 and interest thereon to the appellee. The drainage district seeks a reversal of the supplemental judgment.

The first contention is that there was neither allegation nor proof of any right in the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company alone to sue for the cost of the revetment work. Doubtless the appellant’s reason for joining both railway companies as defendants in the action was the fact, well known, that the right of way for the tracks in question belonged originally to the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The record does not disclose whether it still belongs to that company; but as every one knows, it has for many years been used exclusively by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company for the operation of its trains from Kansas City to Omaha. The contention, like most of those urged to overturn the judgment, is purely technical. The court found that the appellee had performed the work and had expended a sum in excess of $4,000 and was entitled to judgment for that amount and interest. The finding is supported by the uncontradicted evidence. Besides, it appears that the question of the sole right of appellee to recover for the cost of the revetment was not presented to the trial court and is raised here for the first time.

The principal contentions of appellant are that one-man rip-rap was not used in the construction and that appellant has not [317]*317estopped itself from insisting upon a strict compliance in this respect with the terms of the original decree.

In engineering terms “one-man riprap” refers to the weight and dimensions of the stone used in revetment work, and means stone weighing from 25 to 125 pounds, which can be handled by one workman. The drainage engineer of the Missouri Pacific, who was in charge of the revetment work, testified that instead of “using strictly altogether one-man riprap” there was used throughout a considerable portion of the work a very much heavier stone. The wall was laid of large blocks of stone, most of which were 2 feet in the shortest dimensions and so large that one man could not handle them; they would weigh over 200 pounds. He testified that this was a more substantial and better construction than one-man riprap; that the total cost of the material and labor was nearly $7,000. He further testified as follows:

“The cost of doing this work, if it had been done with one-man riprap, would have been somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 or $1,000 more, because one-man riprap could not be obtained at that time for less than about $1.20 a cubic yard and we would have had to haul it through the congested terminals of Kansas City, Missouri; we had an opportunity to get this heavier rock at a point a little north of Kansas City and it cost us only about 75‡ a cubic yard. When I say it cost us only about 75^ a yard I mean that that sum was the cost to dig it out without paying any quarryman’s profit or anything of that sort. It would have cost us about $2 a yard, possibly more, depending on circumstances to have purchased the rock we used from an ordinary quarryman. . . . This bill does not include any charge on account of transportation; it is simply for the cost of the labor and material. . . . The material actually used was better than one-man riprap. As a matter of fact, there was some one-man rip-rap used, but a considerable portion of that rock would be two or three times as heavy as one-man riprap. They put it down to the bottom where it takes the shock from the water.”

The contractpr on the revetment work testified that he had experience in doing riprap work on the banks of other rivers, and that this construction was better than -one-man riprap. His testimony was that “this is the only thing that would have stood up there.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
195 P. 983, 108 Kan. 314, 1921 Kan. LEXIS 38, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kaw-valley-drainage-district-v-missouri-pacific-railroad-kan-1921.