Plattsmouth Bridge Co. v. Globe Oil & Refining Co.

7 N.W.2d 409, 232 Iowa 1118
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 12, 1943
DocketNo. 46169.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 7 N.W.2d 409 (Plattsmouth Bridge Co. v. Globe Oil & Refining Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Plattsmouth Bridge Co. v. Globe Oil & Refining Co., 7 N.W.2d 409, 232 Iowa 1118 (iowa 1943).

Opinion

Miller, J.

Plaintiff’s petition asserts that it is a Delaware corporation, with its principal place of business at Omaha, Neb.; defendant is a Kansas corporation with its principal place of business at Wichita, Kan.; plaintiff owns certain real estate in Mills county, Iowa, on which it has constructed a toll bridge which extends across the Missouri River; defendant laid a pipe line across the Missouri River south of plaintiff’s bridge and, without permission or authority, illegally constructed the pipe line across plaintiff’s land, now illegally occupies the same and threatens to continue to do so. The prayer was that defendant be decreed to have no right to use plaintiff’s property, that a mandatory writ of injunction issue requiring defendant to remove said pipe line therefrom and for general equitable relief.

The answer admitted the identity of the parties and denied all other allegations of the petition. The answer as amended *1120 further asserted that the Missouri River is a navigable stream; defendant secured a permit from the Federal Government to cross said river; after crossing the river the pipe line was constructed across primary road 34 aud under plaintiff's bridge; the toll bridge is a part of said primary road 34 and a part of the primary-road system of Iowa; defendant secured permits to cross said road 34 under plaintiff’s bridge from the state highway commission and the state commerce commission; the pipe line is located under plaintiff’s bridge in a strip of land between the water’s edge and the meander line established by the original government survey, which strip is not susceptible of private ownership; plaintiff is not authorized to transact business in Towa and cannot maintain this action. The prayer was that the action be dismissed.

The cause proceeded to trial. To prove title to the premises involved plaintiff introduced in evidence, identification and production being waived, the record of conveyances from the original entry and government patent to and including conveyance of certain premises by warranty deed from the Chicago, B. & Q. R. R. Co. to plaintiff. Plaintiff also introduced in evidence the record of certain litigation which included an action to quiet title and the decree entered therein. Defendant objected to the offer of the conveyances on the ground that they did not apply to or affect or convey or attempt to convey any of the land in controversy. Objection was made to the record of the action to quiet title because the State of Iowa .and the United States were not parties thereto nor bound thereby. The theory of the plaintiff was that the particular tract involved herein is accretion land which was conveyed by the deeds and title thereto was quieted by the decree aforesaid. The theory of the defendant was that the strip was not accretion land and therefore the deeds and the quiet-title action did not affect the title thereto.

Henry Dean, a civil engineer, identified and explained a plat (Exhibit 1) which he had prepared of the premises involved. It shows that defendant’s pipe line crosses a 100-foot strip of land which plaintiff claims to own, the point of crossing being approximately 70 feet west of the east end of plaintiff’s bridge and 30 feet east of the first pier of the bridge. The plat *1121 shows that the east bank of the Missouri River is 375 feet west of the spot where the pipe line crosses underneath plaintiff’s bridge. He testified:

“Referring' again to Exhibit One, this plat, Exhibit One shows that the pipeline crosses the land of plaintiff. It is-shown by two parallel black lines and crosses the red shaded area on Exhibit One and runs in a northwesterly direction. It crosses under the bridge of plaintiff between the east abutment of the bridge and the first pier to the west. It is not on the bridge, it is under the bridge in a trench under the ground. It is buried in the ground underneath the bridge at a point designated on the plat, Exhibit One. * * * To get down to this land under the bridge I turned off of Highway Thirty-four and went into Mr. Richardson’s driveway and through a gate to the river. .This pipeline crosses 376.81 feet east of the east bank of the Missouri River if I added it correctly, and at that point under the bridge there is no method of crossing the Missouri River. I would say it is approximately fifty feet from the ground at that point to the end of the bridge. ’ ’

On cross-examination, he testified:

“1 said the pipeline was 376.81 feet east of the bank of the river on the section line. The bank is nearly straight up and down at that particular point, that is the water’s edge.. When T was there, with reference to this pipeline, the water was all over it, I could not tell how much. I did not measure it but it was completely covered, possibly four or five feet of water. I would not say how much. The water was flowing over against the fill of the east abutment of the bridge, the tow of the fill. At that time the river was at high water or flood stage. ’ ’

R. A. Leussler, plaintiff’s vice-president and general manager, testified that plaintiff did not give defendant any authority or any easement to lay a pipe line in the ground underneath its bridge. H. A. Schneider, plaintiff’s president, testified that defendant’s representative was told that plaintiff’s board of directors did not want the pipe line under its bridge, but, notwithstanding, the pipe line was laid under the bridge at night by stealth.

*1122 Defendant introduced in evidence permits from the Iowa Commerce Commission, Iowa State Highway Commission, and the United States for the laying of its pipe line, photostatic copy of the original survey of the section herein involved, and the right-of-way map of U. S. Highway No. 34. S. P. Redfearn, defendant’s civil engineer, testified concerning the laying of the pipe line. He located it under plaintiff’s bridge 32 feet east of the last abutment to the east. He saw the ditch dug. He testified:

“The ditch was dug, however, under the bridg*e by hand. I saw the ditch before it was covered up. I saw the soil that came out of the ditch, it had some sand and clay or gumbo whatever you call it. From my observation of it, the ditch was dug through original ground.”

In rebuttal, plaintiff recalled Henry Dean, who identified a plat prepared by his father, Seth Dean, at that time county surveyor, in February 1895, which was filed March 9, 1895, with the county auditor. The certificate thereto provides:

“I hereby certify that this map by the lines, numbers and letters shown thereon, correctly represents the present location of the main channel of the Missouri River along the ■ west boundary of Platville Township, Mills County, Iowa, and that the form and area of the several fractional tracts of land bordering thereon subject to taxation according to my survey made February 18, 1895, under an order of the Board of Supervisors of said county passed in January, 1895. Glenwood, Iowa, March 9, 1895. Seth Dean, County Surveyor.”

Defendant objected to the plat, as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial and the witness incompetent and the exhibit incompetent.

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Bluebook (online)
7 N.W.2d 409, 232 Iowa 1118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plattsmouth-bridge-co-v-globe-oil-refining-co-iowa-1943.