New York Carbonic Acid Gas Co. v. Geyser Natural Carbonic Acid Gas Co.

35 Misc. 668, 72 N.Y.S. 354
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 15, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 35 Misc. 668 (New York Carbonic Acid Gas Co. v. Geyser Natural Carbonic Acid Gas Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New York Carbonic Acid Gas Co. v. Geyser Natural Carbonic Acid Gas Co., 35 Misc. 668, 72 N.Y.S. 354 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1901).

Opinion

Russell, J.

The subject of this controversy is the right claimed by plaintiff to transport liquid carbonic acid gas, from its own mineral springs in the town of Saratoga Springs over the' defendant’s adjacent lands, to a point of access to plaintiff’s additional lands on which it has erected valuable works for the compression of fluid gas into liquid form for commercial purposes. The privilege is a valuable one, the defendant asking the plaintiff $600 per year for its use' at the present time, and denying that the plaintiff has any right to such use however much or little that use may interfere with the defendant’s enjoyment of its, own property. The parties are competitors in business and defendant has the right to refuse to allow ex gratia even that which cannot seriously interfere with its own business, provided the plaintiff has not a just claim to an easement from necessity, reservation or grant.

The parties take title from a common source. October 12, 1889, Eugene Wiswall conveyed about three acres to Emily and Frank Hathorn, near the spot known as the Geysers in Saratoga Springs, and on the 1st day of April, 1896, also conveyed to them, after reciting that it was the intention of Wiswall at the time of the conveyance in 1889 to grant the right hereafter described, an easement characterized in the following words: “ The said right of way from said lands described in said deed to them over the space between said lands, the bridge and broken road to and over said road to said Ooesa avenue.” On the 6th day of.June, 1896, Emily and Frank Hathorn conveyed to the plaintiff the lands previously granted to them by Wiswall. Thus, whatever title and appurtenances Wiswall conveyed to the Hathorns in 1889, and whatever reserved interest he conveyed to them April 1, 1896, the plaintiff now possesses, undiminished by any coriveyances from Wiswall to other persons subsequent to his original deed to the Hathorns.

The interest of the defendant in its lands adjacent to those of plaintiff comes through a conveyance by Wiswall to Lyman E. Pettee and others, made on the 7th day of January, 1893, following a contract of purchase between the same parties executed April 28, 1892. In that deed to Pettee the grantor incorporated this provision: “ Subject also to a right of way to Emily H. and Frank H. Hathorn, their heirs and assigns, over the broken road as it now exists to and from the lands conveyed to [671]*671them by said Wiswall by deed, dated October 12, 1889, and recorded October 22, 1889, in Book Ho. 186, page 456.” On the 1st day of March, 1895, Pettee and others conveyed to the defendant the lands which Wiswall had deeded to them, this conveyance being prior to the grant from Wiswall to the Hathorns of the right of way. The reservation, however, contained in the deed to Pettee and others was in a recorded deed, of which the defendant had presumptive notice.

The broken- road referred to had been used from Ooesa creek to Ooesa avenue, which avenue partly bounds the easterly and distant part of thé plaintiff’s lands called the Hurlburt lands on which are erected the plaintiff’s tank and compressing works. It had been used to some extent by the owners of the Wiswall lands for communication between their lots and Ooesa avenue. The whole Wiswall tract was not very valuable at the time of his ownership, but the region was recognized as a spot in which mineral springs might be discovered, several near by being already known and made useful. There was, therefore, at the time Wiswall conveyed to the Hathorns, who were interested in mineral springs at Saratoga Springs, the possibility of future discoveries by exploration, the anticipation of which was justified by the discovery which plaintiff made, after it acquired the ownership of the Hathorn three acres, of a new spring largely productive of the carbonic acid gas used to make mineral waters sparkling and attractive. That spring spouts some thirty-five cylinders of gas per day, and its transportation to the plaintiff’s works on the Hurlburt tract does not require the use of vehicles or the carriage of the water in liquid form, for it is separated at the mouth of the spring from the water and may be carried through pipes as a fluid to the compresser where it is turned into liquid. At the time of the Wiswall deed to the Hathorns the lands of other parties adjoined the Hathorn lot, but no right or possible power over them existed in Wiswall or his grantees. There was a necessity for the use of the broken road in the enjoyment of the Hathorn tract conveyed by Wiswall. That broken road lay on the lands of the grantor, Wiswall, and no denial of the privilege or right to use it appears in the case, so that presumptively during Wiswall’s tenure of the lands now owned by the defendant the Hathorns had free access to and over the broken road to Ooesa avenue. As against Wiswall, [672]*672therefore, the appurtenant right of passage by the Hathorns existed in their favor, and his acquiescence eotemporaneously with his ownership forms a part of the res gestae in determining the assumed rights of the plaintiff at a time when no controversy existed. That right of the Hathorns was further distinctly recognized by Wiswall in his deed to Pettee and others, who are the grantors of the defendant, by its reservation of the right of way to the Hathorns, and by his subsequent conveyance to them of all the rights which he had preserved by the deed in which he parted with his title to the defendant’s lands.

The appurtenant right of way which arises by necessity is not defeated by the fact that the land conveyed is surrounded in part by that of the grantor and in part by that of a third person. Palmer v. Palmer, 150 N. Y. 135.

It was the duty of Wiswall, in conveying his remaining land to other persons, to recognize the obligations to other grantees, and, therefore, his reservation in the deed to Pettee was not for his own personal benefit, but, from the underlying situation and his own expressed language, was for the protection of those prior grantees, and in recognition of his own duty. This distinction is recognized by our courts. Equitable Life Assurance Society v. Brennan, 148 N. Y. 661; Lattimer v. Livermore, 72 id. 174; Hay v. Knauth, 36 App. Div. 612.

When so intended, the reservation is an exception from the thing granted, of which an adverse grantee must take notice. West Point Iron Co. v. Reymert, 45 N. Y. 703.

The situation of the Ha thorn lot, the conveyance to the Ha-thorns, the reservation in the deed to Pettee, the conveyance of the reserved right which Wiswall had, and the use of the broken road, therefore, give the plaintiff’s lot the dominant appurtenant right of way and make the defendant’s tract the servient tenement. The owners of the title to either tracts have never definitely located the easement. The grantor undoubtedly had the right to locate, fairly exercising that right, and in case of his neglect or refusal the grantee had also such a privilege. Palmer v. Palmer, 150 N. Y. 139.

That choice has not effectively been made by either side. It remains, therefore, for the court to consider from the terms of the reservation, and the situation upon which that reservation was based, what should be the location. Such power exists in [673]*673a court of equity. Trustees of Columbia College v. Lynch, 70 N. Y. 440,

The use must be with due regard to the interests of the defendant, and with as little disturbance to the enjoyment of its property as may be practicable. Such use, however, must be of substantial utility.

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35 Misc. 668, 72 N.Y.S. 354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-york-carbonic-acid-gas-co-v-geyser-natural-carbonic-acid-gas-co-nysupct-1901.