North Coast Railway Co. v. Hess

105 P. 853, 56 Wash. 335, 1909 Wash. LEXIS 899
Washington Supreme Court·Decided December 14, 1909·No. No. 8368·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

Mobbis, J.

The North Coast Railway Company brought suit in Yakima county to condemn lot 5, in block 210, of the original town of North Yakima, for railway purposes. In this suit Julia Hess as owner, and A. N. Miller and wife as lessees, were made defendants, and on December 21, 1908, the court rendered judgment awarding Julia Hess, as owner of the lot, the sum of $15,930.26, and Miller and wife, as lessees, the sum of $521.74, which sums were on said day paid into court by appellant. On the same day the court made and entered its order, reciting that “it appearing to the court that there is a claim that liens exist against said property, it is’ therefore ordered that said money be not distributed by the clerk of this court until the further order of this court.” On December 29 the court made an order directing the payment of the money to respondents Hess and Miller, and upon such order the money was withdrawn from the registry of the court. On January 8 the appellant filed a petition reciting that the lot was encumbered by a mortgage of $2,500, wholly unpaid and not yet due, by a materialman’s lien in' the sum of $1,914.26, and an assessment for paving of the street in front in the sum of $585. A copy of this petition was served on the prospective lienors, and it prayed that the money withdrawn by Hess and Miller be returned to the registry of the court, and that a time be fixed in which the original defendants and the lienors referred to in the petition should appear in court and show cause why the judgment should not be used in the satisfaction and release of the respective encumbrances. A show cause order was issued, returnable February 16, on which day the court made and entered an order vacating the show cause order and dismissing the petition, from which order so made and entered “and from each any every order made by said court,” the railway company has appealed, assigning as error the order of December 29, directing the payment to Hess and Miller, the refusal to grant the relief as prayed for in the petition [337] of J anuary 8, and the vacating of the show cause order, and dismissal of the petition.

Under our eminent domain law the mortgagee, the lien claimant, and the city of North Yakima were proper parties to the condemnation suit, the statute (Bal. Code, § 5638), providing that notice shall be served on the owner, encumbrancer, tenant, or person otherwise interested in the property sought to be appropriated. It is further provided (Bal. Code, § 5644), that any person or corporation claiming to be entitled to any money paid into court in the condemnation proceedings, may apply to the court therefor, and the court, upon being satisfied of the correctness of the claim, has power to make an order directing the payment to the claimant, or if in the court’s judgment it be necessary, it may require the bringing of an action in which conflicting claims might be determined. When, therefore, the railway company failed to make the mortgagee, the lien claimant, and the city defendants, the right was offered them to voluntarily submit themselves and claims to the jurisdiction of the court and have their claims against the property adjudged in that proceeding, or, in case of a contest by the owner, have the payment to the owner withheld until in some proper proceeding the claims could be established. Neither of these provisions of the statute having been complied with, their liens against the property were in no wise affected in the eminent domain proceedings, arid, although the judgment has determined the full value of the property, it is still subjected to these various liens to the same extent as before the commencement of the appropriation suit.

The full value of the property was fixed at $15,930.26. The aggregate of these liens is $4,999.26. The railway company then, having paid the full value of the property, must, unless it can be protected in the present proceedings, pay an additional sum of $4,999.26, or such less sum as it may be determined is the true value of these liens, before it can claim an unincumbered title to the property ap[338] propriated, a payment against which equity and good conscience revolt. When the railway company paid into court the sum determined by the judgment to be the full value of the land to be taken, the sum so paid represented the land itself, and these various lienors had the same claim upon this fund for the satisfaction of their claims as they had against the land .itself, notwithstanding the fact that their claim of record was only against the land. Omaha Bridge etc. R. Co. v. Reed, 69 Neb. 514, 96 N. W. 276; Calumet River R. Co. v. Brown, 136 Ill. 322, 26 N. E. 501, 12 L. R. A. 84; Watson v. N. Y. Cent. R. Co., 47 N. Y. 157; Utter v. Richmond, 112 N. Y. 610, 20 N. E. 554. They were, therefore, among the persons described in the statute as claimants against the money paid into court by the railway company, and while this right exists here by virtue of the statute, it is the rule, supported by the great weight of authority, that the right is an equitable one and needs no statutory authority for its exercise and enforcement, and this irrespective of whether they were or were not made parties to the proceedings. Platt v. Bright, 31 N. J. Eq. 81; Gray v. Case, 51 N. J. Eq. 426, 26 Atl. 805; Philadelphia etc. R. Co. v. Pennsylvania etc. R. Co., 151 Pa. 569, 25 Atl. 177; South Park Com’rs v. Todd,, 112 Ill. 379; Bank of Auburn v. Roberts, 44 N. Y. 192.

The railway company has the same equitable right to be protected-by this fund, as against the lienors, notwithstanding that after its payment into court it had no legal right or intérest in the money. Nor having failed to make the lienors defendants in the appropriation proceedings, could it in law defend as against their true liens. Platt v. Bright, supra; Philadelphia etc. R. Co. v. Pennsylvania etc. R. Co., supra.

In the New Jersey case it is said:

“But though such are the relations of the complainant and the railroad company at law, it is very clear that the latter, having paid the full value of the land and damages without deduction for or regard to encumbrances, has, under [339] the circumstances, the right in equity to protection as against the lien of the mortgage.”

In the Pennsylvania case the court says:

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North Coast Railway Co. v. Hess, 105 P. 853, 56 Wash. 335, 1909 Wash. LEXIS 899 (Wash. 1909).

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