Louisville & Nashville R. R. v. Scomp

98 S.W. 1024, 124 Ky. 330, 1907 Ky. LEXIS 182
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 17, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 98 S.W. 1024 (Louisville & Nashville R. R. v. Scomp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisville & Nashville R. R. v. Scomp, 98 S.W. 1024, 124 Ky. 330, 1907 Ky. LEXIS 182 (Ky. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

[333]*333Opinion op the Court by

Judge Hobson

Reversing.

William Scomp owned a tract of land in Boyle county through which the Knoxville Branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was located in the year 1865. Being unable to agree with Scomp, the railroad company filed in the the Boyle county court a proceeding to condemn the right of way through his land 66 feet wide containing 2.54 acres. Scomp was not satisfied with the judgment in the county court, and appealed to the circuit court, where he obtained a judgment for $125 for the land taken and $1,375 for the consequential damages, making in all $1,500. The railroad company then took possession of the right of way and built the railroad upon it. For many years after the railroad was built there was no station near Scomp’s place. The trains passed through without stopping. About the'year 1899 the railroad company, the better to carry on its business, put in a number of tracks and established a station at S'comp’s place. This was due to these facts: A heavy freight business was done over the road, and one engine could pull from this point to Louisville 11-2 times as much as it could pull from the Tennessee line to this point. So the company made this a point for breaking up trains, and the additional tracks referred to were established for that purpose. Scomp’s house and stable stood very near to the railroad, and the pike which he traveled was on the opposite side of the railroad from his house. For many years he has used a passway across the railroad in front of his house over to the pike. The establishment of the additional tracks, the stopping of the trains, and the making up of trains at this point interferred [334]*334very much, with the use of the passway, and this action was filed in September, 1903, to recover damages. .

In the first paragraph of the petition it was charged that within five years the defendant had.built the additional tracks not considered or contemplated when the right of way was secured, and was continually moving cars upon them in close proximity to the plaintiff’s- residence, thereby causing loud noises, throwing soot, smoke, and cinders upon the premises, jarring them, and greatly damaging them as a habitation. For this damages were prayed in the sum of $5,000. In the second paragraph it was averred that the plaintiff owned the passway referred to, that it afforded the means of ingress and egress to and from the premises, and that since the additional tracks had been built the defendant was continually storing and putting in and taking out cars on these tracks in front of the house over the passway, running and switching cars across it in great numbers continually, thereby obstructing the passway and making it dangerous to pass over it. For this damages were prayed in the sum of $1,000. The court overruled the defendant’s demurrer to each paragraph of the petition, but when the evidence came to be heard he ruled that there, could be no recovery under the first paragraph and gave the jury this instruction as the law of the case: “If you believe from the evidence that prior to the institution of this action, August 31, 1903, and within five years prior thereto, the defendant built a side track and a Y near to and in close proximity to plaintiff’s residence and lands for storing cars thereon and switching purposes, and in the operation of same by defendant the passway of the plaintiffs has been obstructed, so as to prevent the reasonable use of same for purposes of ingress [335]*335and ‘ egress, to and from their lands, and because thereof the said lands have been depreciated in value, then you should find for plaintiffs such sum as you believe from the evidence will reasonably compensate them for such depreciation in the value of said lands, if any, because of such obstruction of said passway, not to exceed, however, the sum of $1,000; and if you do not so believe you should find for defendant.” The jury found for the plaintiffs in the sum of $1,000, on which the court entered judgment, and the defendant appeals.

The court should have sustained the defendant’s demurrer to the first paragraph of the petition, and no evidence relating to these matters should have been admitted before the jury. When the defendant condemned the right of way and took title to the strip of land condemned for the railway, it acquired the rig’ht to use it, not only for the one track which it originally built, but for such additional tracks as from time to time it may find it necessary to build or deem useful in its business. It has the right to devote the entire strip to its purposes as provided in the judgment of the court, and all damages from the use of this strip for railway purposes are included in the original assessment. The plaintiffs cannot now complain that more tracks have been laid on the land than were contemplated at that time, or that trains, instead of running by as they formerly did, are now stopped and broken up. The defendant must serve the public. It has the right to make stations on its own land as the exigencies of the public service may require, and to stop and break up its trains at any station it sees proper. When land is condemned for railway purposes, the strip is taken, not with reference alone to the present needs of the company, but for all needs which the future may develop. The plaintiff’s, have, [336]*336therefore, no- cause of complaint that the defendant built the additional tracks referred to, or broke up- its trains, or stored its ears on these tracks. There is no allegation in the petition that any of the acts of the defendant were negligently done or were unnecessary in the careful and proper operation of trains. The defendant has the right to operate its road on the strip; but it must do this in the usual and proper way, and it is liable to the plaintiffs for any damages they may sustain by the negligent and improper operation of the railway. But as the record is now presented there is neither allegation nor proof to sustain a recovery upon this ground. L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Orr, 91 Ky. 111, 12 Ky. Law Rep. 756, 15 S. W. 8; I. C. R. R. Co. v. Hodge, 55 S. W. 688, 21 Ky. Law Rep. 1479; 2 Lewis on Eminent Domain, section 565.

As to the second paragraph of the petition, the averment that the plaintiffs owned the passway is not a statement of a mere conclusion of law. The allegation that the plaintiff is the owher of certain property was a sufficient allegation at common law, and it is good under the Code. In the ease of Clark v. Hart, 98 Ky. 33, 17 Ky. Law Rep. 604, 32 S. W. 216, it was averred in the petition simply that the’ plaintiffs had a right to go over the pass-way. The petition there showed that the plaintiffs did not own the passway, and it did not show any facts giving them a right to use it. The allegation here is that the plaintiffs own the passway, and this is sufficient. The proof does not show how the plaintiffs became entitled to the passway. It does not seem to have been referred to in the condemnation proceedings. The allegation in the petition that the plaintiffs owned the passway is not denied in the answer, and therefore must be taken as true on the appeal. From the facts shown it would seem prob[337]*337able that the plaintiffs had a road ont to-the pike where the passway now is when the railroad was built, and that they have continued to use it'since that time. No evidence was - introduced on the trial on the subject of the title to the passway, as no issue" had been formed on it; and as to what the rights of the parties are in the matter we express no opinion, as the facts are not before us.

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

Related

Bradley v. Williams
202 S.W.2d 149 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1947)
Carter v. Terrell
112 S.W.2d 687 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1938)
Bertram v. Bradley
79 S.W.2d 197 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1935)
Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co. v. Castle
56 S.W.2d 993 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1933)
Collins v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad
292 S.W. 494 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1927)
Louisville Nashville Rr. Co. v. Burnam, Trustee
284 S.W. 391 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1925)
Moore v. Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co.
259 S.W. 695 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1924)
Bosworth v. State University
179 S.W. 403 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1915)
Smith v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co.
148 P. 393 (Montana Supreme Court, 1915)
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. v. Blankenship
170 S.W. 620 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1914)
Warden v. Madisonville, H. & E. R. R.
108 S.W. 880 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1908)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 S.W. 1024, 124 Ky. 330, 1907 Ky. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-nashville-r-r-v-scomp-kyctapp-1907.