New York Municipal Railway Corp. v. Susie Church Holliday

189 A.D. 814, 179 N.Y.S. 238, 1919 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4766
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 19, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 189 A.D. 814 (New York Municipal Railway Corp. v. Susie Church Holliday) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New York Municipal Railway Corp. v. Susie Church Holliday, 189 A.D. 814, 179 N.Y.S. 238, 1919 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4766 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1919).

Opinion

Jaycox, J.:

To state the facts briefly, the defendant is the owner of real property on Jamaica avenue, in Woodhaven. The plaintiffs have recently constructed an elevated railroad structure through that avenue, adjoining the defendant’s property. The plaintiffs, desiring to procure the right to build this elevated structure and to extinguish the defendant’s easements of light, air and access, instituted this proceeding by the usual petition. The defendant appeared and interposed an answer. Judgment of condemnation was thereafter entered, which recited that the defendant had brought an action against the plaintiffs and in that action had applied [816]*816for an injunction restraining the defendants during the pendency of said action from obstructing and incumbering Jamaica avenue, county of Kings, city and State of New York, and from making any further erection in said avenue in front of or upon the real property of the plaintiff and from constructing certain iron panels in the fence and rail and certain partitions and walls, etc., and further recites the denial of said motion. Condemnation is decreed and commissioners to ascertain and appraise the compensation to be made to the owners of the property so taken for the public use are appointed. The order appealed from recites: and this Court having granted an order, dated the 27th day of March, 1917, and entered in the office of the clerk of the County of Queens on the 28th day of March, 1917, granting the plaintiffs the right to enter into immediate possession of the property sought to be acquired in this proceeding and devote the same to the public use specified upon giving an undertaking of the Brooklyn Kapid Transit Company in respect to said property payable to the owner of said pr’operty as named in said petition in the sum of SeVenty-five thousand dollars.” This undertaking was given and the plaintiffs entered upon the property as the necessities of their work required. The commissioners of appraisal have made their report awarding the defendant for the several parcels taken the sum of $16,046. They then said: The aforesaid several awards shall bear interest from the date of entering upon and taking of possession of such easements by the plaintiffs herein.” Thereupon the defendant moved to confirm the report. The plaintiffs did not oppose the confirmation of the award, but opposed the inclusion of the interest awarded by the commissioners. The motion to make the receiver of the plaintiffs a party to the action was opposed, as was also the request for new security from the receiver. The motion for confirmation included a request for relief in these particulars, and the affidavit of the defendant, made a part of the motion papers, recites: “ Since the last hearing and while the matter was before the Commissioners awaiting their determination and report, Hon. Bindley M. Garrison was by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, appointed receiver of the plaintiffs, and also of said Brooklyn Eapid Transit Company, [817]*817the surety aforesaid, in the undertaking given by the plaintiffs as aforesaid.”

When the motion came on to be heard, the Special Term ordered that the report be remitted to the commissioners for the purpose of having them compute the interest and to make an amended report. The commissioners then made an amended report in which they computed the interest allowed by them. The defendant claims that this computation was not from the time that plaintiffs took possession. The allowance of interest made by the commissioners was, however, from the time of taking possession “ to the fullest extent.” The defendant moved to have such report set aside, while the plaintiffs asked that the award be confirmed, but without interest. The Special Term has granted the motion of the plaintiffs to confirm the awards without interest upon the ground that there was no authority for the commissioners to award interest, and it also denied the motion to make the receiver a party and for new security.

I am unable to agree with the learned justice at Special Term in his conclusion that there is no authority for allowing interest. It is true that interest is not usually allowed in condemnation proceedings; it is also true that possession is not usually taken until the award is paid, and there is no reason, therefore, for awarding interest. But in this case the plaintiffs had possession of the property and also possession of their money which was to pay for the property. It, therefore, seems to me to be clear that the defendant was entitled to interest upon the amount of her damages from the time the plaintiffs took possession. This time has been fixed by the commissioners and the interest has been computed, and the defendant was entitled to it.

The cases cited by the plaintiffs in opposition to the claim for interest do not seem to be in point. On the contrary, there are a number of cases which bear out the defendant’s claim for interest. In Moore v. New York Elev. R. R. Co. (126 N. Y. 671), which was an action brought to recover for damages to plaintiff’s premises arising from the construction and operation of an elevated railroad in a street upon which they fronted, the Court of Appeals said: “ In actions [818]*818of this nature, while the jury have the right, in their discretion, to award interest upon unliquidated damages incapable of liquidation by computation, yet they are not bound to do so ” (citing cases). The learned judge before whom that case was tried charged the jury that it must include interest. As will be seen from the quotation above, the court held that this charge was erroneous — that the inclusion of interest was in the discretion of the jury. No distinction is apparent between that case and the present proceeding, and there is no difference between the powers of the commissioners and the jury in relation to interest.

In Panhandle & G. Ry. Co. v. Kirby (108 S. W. Rep. 498) the Texas Court of Civil Appeals said: “ While it is true that the statute prescribing the measure of damages for the condemnation of lands makes no mention of interest, we see no reason why interest may not be recovered as in other cases of appropriation. For all purposes necessary in the construction and operation of appellant’s road appellee was deprived of the land and injured to the extent of the depreciation, if any, caused by the condemnation, when appellant actually condemned and appropriated its right of way, which the record shows was about the 12th day of April, 1902, and we see no reason why in such case interest should not be allowed thereon from that date. That date fixed the period when appellant, under the forms of law, actually appropriated part of appellee’s property.”

In Old Colony Railroad v. Miller (125 Mass. 1) the court states its views upon this subject as follows: “ The right of the landowner to damages for land taken by a railroad corporation is complete when the location is made. That act constitutes the taking. It is the loss occasioned by the exercise of the right of eminent domain at that time, for which the statutes provide indemnity. The amount is then due, and, if agreed upon by the parties, must be then paid. If not agreed on, the damages are assessed by a jury on the application of either party; but they are assessed as of the time of the location, and the jury may properly allow interest upon the amount ascertained as damages, for the detention of the money from the time of the taking.”

This question was discussed by Mr. Justice Jenks in Matter [819]*819

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Bluebook (online)
189 A.D. 814, 179 N.Y.S. 238, 1919 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-york-municipal-railway-corp-v-susie-church-holliday-nyappdiv-1919.