McKell v. Collins Colliery Co.

33 S.E. 765, 46 W. Va. 625, 1899 W. Va. LEXIS 90
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 17, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 33 S.E. 765 (McKell v. Collins Colliery Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKell v. Collins Colliery Co., 33 S.E. 765, 46 W. Va. 625, 1899 W. Va. LEXIS 90 (W. Va. 1899).

Opinion

,McWhorter, Judge:

On the 15th day of June, 1893, Thomas G. McKell and Jean D. McKell, his wife, leased to the Collins Colliery Company, a corporation, for the period of twenty-five years from said date, for coal-mining and coal-coking purposes only, a tract of one thousand, thirty-six acres-of land in Fayette and Raleigh counties. Said lease contains the following reservations: “Also, the right of way for any railroads or wagon roads that may be required for the further development of any of the property of the lessors is excepted and reserved by lessors, and proper right of air courses from and to adjoining lands are also reserved, to be located by engineer of the lessors. This right used is to be restricted or exercised only on the written recommendation of the> engineer or agent of the lessors.” And it further contains the following provision! “Second. The lessee ¡shall have the sole and exclusive privilege of mining and coking from the said Sewell or upper seam of coal on the above-described premises during the continuance of this lease, and the privilege of using so much of the surface of the land and such of the timber as has been above set apart by lessors for use of this lease; also, so much stone, sand, and water thereon as may be necessary for its mining, coking, and building purposes on said premises, but for no other purpose; and it is further [627]*627agreed that the buildings and other improvements to be erected by the lessee shall be so located and constructed as to preserve proper and convenient entries to and from the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, or other railroad company’s, tracks, to which thé lessors may grant permission through, over, and across the said tract, — the location of such railroad, if reasonably convenient, to be determined before said improvements are erected.” At the August rules, 1896, the said McKells filed their bill in the circuit court of Fayette County against the Collins Colliery Company, reciting and exhibiting said lease, and alleged that, by the terms and stipulations contained in said lease, they had the absolute right to build through and over said leased premises wagonroads, tramroads, railroads, or any other line of transportation, from the tracks of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company to the lands of plaintiffs lying back of and remote from the said railway tracks, for the further development of their property; that no obstructions were to be placed by said defendants in the way of said rights of way so reserved, but that its buildings and improvements were' to be so erected as not to in any manner interfere with the free use of said rights of way by plaintiffs; that said plaintiffs owned valuable coal and timber lands adjacent to the leasehold of defendant, and were anxious to develop it, but in order to do ,so it would be necessary to construct a railroad through the premises of defendant, and that there was but one practicable route for said road, which route was fully described and designated in a plat and' notice filed as an exhibit with the bill; that, in pursuance of said lease and reservations therein contained, they staked out and surveyed the line of railroad designated in said exhibit,' and sought to build the ¡same through the premises leased, in a manner that would in no way interfere with defendant in the full enjoyment of the privileges granted in said lease; that the particular formation of the land through which said railroad was sought to be constructed was such that no other available way could be had; that defendant had full knowledge and adequate notice of plaintiffs’ intention and preparation- for building said road, yet defendant, totally disregarding plaintiffs’ rights reserved in said lease, and flatly ignoring said notices, began building, without consent of plaintiffs, [628]*628and within the line of said proposed railroad designated in said exhibit, additional buildings to its storehouse, which addition obstructed and prevented plaintiffs in building and constructing said railroad; that said additional buildings were placed where they were for the purpose of obstructing plaintiffs in the construction, of their said railroad, and could have been placed in as convenient location on the east end of said store building instead of on the west end, and, if placed on the east end, would not have interfered with plaintiffs proposed railroad, but, as they were, would permanently interfere with plaintiffs in the construction of same, and prevent them from developing their property; that the damage from said obstruction would be irreparable, as they would permanently prevent the construction of the proposed railroad on the only practicable location; and that such damage could not be adequately compensated by a recovery in a suit for damages, — and prayed that inasmuch as they were without relief except in equity, and to avoid a multiplicity of suits, defendant, its agents, and employes, be enjoined and inhibited from any longer obstructing the said line of railroad by the said building, or in any way whatever from placing further obstructions on said line; and that defendant, its agents or employes, be required, as soon as possible, to remove any and all obstructions placed by them thereon, from off the said right of way; and for general relief. At the May rules, 1897, the defendant filed its demurrer and answer to said bill: Admitting the lease, and its possession of the premises thereunder. Averring that plaintiffs had wholly failed to comply with the conditions of said reservation in said lease, and denying plaintiffs’ right, under such general reservation, to build a raiload or wagonroad over the said leased premises', unless the same should be located and used in a way that would not interfere with and defeat the object and purpose of the lease. Averring, that, after plaintiffs had executed said lease, respondent laid out at large expense (at a cost of one hundred and forty thousand dollars) a coal plant, consisting of coke ovens, coal tipples, side tracks, engine house, stables, tenement houses, store house, and offices, all necessary for the successful operation of the coal business and carrying out the provisions of said lease; that the openings of the coal in the said-lands were [629]*629made on either side of Crooked Run branch, the only practicable place for said openings upon thé land; that a large, expensive, double tipple had been erected across the said branch or hollow, connecting the two openings to the coal; that the side tracks upon which the railroad cars stood to be loaded from the said tipple extended under the said tipple, in the center of said branch, and along up the said valley, for several hundred feet; that defendant transported over said side tracks coal produced from said lands amounting to about two hundred and fifty tons per annum, for which it paid plaintiffs royalties amounting to about twenty-five thousand dollars per annum; that said branch over which said tipples were built was very narrow (just sufficient space for defendant’s side tracks and other appliances for the proper loading and handling of the coal so produced) ; that said coal plant and improvements were located and built upon a point on 'said land known to plaintiffs to be the only suitable place for the successful operation of a coal mine upon said land, and that portion of said land where the said coal plant was located was included in said lease because it was specificallysuitedfortheimprovements, and no other practicable location could be found upon the said lands, and that said improvements were built long prior to the institution of this suit, and prior to any contem-platedroadby plaintiffs at that point, and that the coal plant and the improvements were located with the knowledge and consent of plaintiffs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 S.E. 765, 46 W. Va. 625, 1899 W. Va. LEXIS 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckell-v-collins-colliery-co-wva-1899.