Sandstrom v. Oregon-Washington R. & Nav. Co.

136 P. 878, 69 Or. 194, 1913 Ore. LEXIS 145
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 16, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 136 P. 878 (Sandstrom v. Oregon-Washington R. & Nav. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sandstrom v. Oregon-Washington R. & Nav. Co., 136 P. 878, 69 Or. 194, 1913 Ore. LEXIS 145 (Or. 1913).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Ramsey

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action by the plaintiff to recover damages from the defendant for alleged consequential injuries to real property.

The plaintiff is the owner and in possession of lots 37, 38, 39, and 40, in block 177, of University Park in the City of Portland. These four lots are 100 feet long, and each of them is 25 feet wide, and they, together, comprise a tract 100 feet square in the northwest corner of said block. Block 177 is bounded on the north by Newark Street, on the south by Trenton Street, and on the west by Woolsey Street. An alley 15 feet wide runs through the center of said block from [196]*196north to south, and the plaintiff’s four lots are bounded on the east by said alley. Woolsey and Trenton Streets appear not to have been improved in any manner, and they are not traveled. Newark and Dana Streets were opened and traveled. The plaintiff has a six-room dwelling-house on his lots, which has been occupied by tenants most of the time while the plaintiff has owned said lots.

This action was commenced in February, 1912, or prior to that date. The plaintiff’s second amended complaint was filed on February 17, 1912.

The plaintiff’s house was erected on said premises prior to the time that the defendant constructed the tunnel and the excavation referred to below.

During the years 1909,1910, and 1911 the defendant constructed a steam railroad along Dana Street, a short distance east of the plaintiff’s said lots and house, and said railroad has been in operation ever since it was so built, and many trains pass along said street and through said tunnel every day, conveying passengers and freight. The defendant, in constructing said railroad along said Dana Street, made a large excavation in said street, and said excavation is the mouth or opening of the north end of a large tunnel constructed by the defendant for the use of its railroad; said tunnel being more than a mile long. The trains of the defendant pass through said excavation and said tunnel in carrying on the defendant’s business as a common carrier.

The defendant owns lands on each side of said Dana Street, and it has constructed a large excavation along the east side of said block 177, and north of said block, and said excavation at the bottom thereof is about 75 feet wide, and at the top it is much wider. It is more than 50 feet deep, and covers the whole of said Dana Street on the east side of said block 177, and for some distance north of said block, '

[197]*197Newark Street runs east and west on the north side of said block 177, and to the east thereof, crossing said Dana Street at the northeast corner of said block. Said excavation on Dana Street completely blockades said Newark Street where said Newark Street crosses said Dana Street, making it impossible for the plaintiff or any other person to pass on horseback, or with any kind of vehicle, or on foot, from said Newark Street across or along said Dana Street, thereby preventing all travel from said Newark Street across or along said Dana Street.

The plaintiff’s said lots abut on said Newark Street, and prior to the making of said excavation in said Dana Street the plaintiff and Ms tenants, when they had occasion to go to the business part of the City of Portland, or elsewhere, went from his said dwelling-house and lots east on Newark Street to Dana Street, and thence north on Dana Street, about 1,000 feet, to Columbia Boulevard, an improved public highway; but, since the defendant made said excavation in said Dana Street, it is impracticable for anyone to pass from the plaintiff’s premises along said Newark Street via Dana Street to said boulevard. Since the making of said excavation, the plaintiff and his tenants have been compelled to pass from his said house and premises west along Newark Street to Piske Street, and thence north on Piske Street to said Columbia Boulevard, and the distance to said boulevard by that route is much greater than via Newark and Dana Streets.

The second amended complaint contains two counts— one for damages for blockading said Dana Street, and preventing the plaintiff and Ms tenants from passing to said Columbia Boulevard via Newark and Dana Streets, and the other for damages caused to the plaintiff’s premises, and the use thereof by the smoke, soot, dust, vapors, and obnoxious gases escaping from the mouth of said tunnel and from said excavation, and [198]*198drifting over and upon the plaintiff’s said premises, rendering them practically uninhabitable, etc. The mouth of the tunnel is 210 feet from the plaintiff’s dwelling-house. Damages in the sum of $1,500 were claimed in each of said two counts. The court below granted a nonsuit as to the first count, and the jury found a verdict for the defendant on the second count. The plaintiff appeals, and claims that various errors were committed by the court below; but we find it necessary to pass on only one point.

After counsel for respective parties had made their opening statements to the jury, the attorney for the plaintiff requested that the jury be permitted to view the premises in controversy, and, this being agreed to by the attorney for the defendant, the court made an order that the jury visit and view the locus in quo in charge of the bailiff. The court then instructed the jury, inter alia, not to converse with any of the attorneys, and, in case they should desire anything pointed out in any particular place, they were directed to ask the bailiff concerning it, and the bailiff was authorized to ask the attorneys concerning such matters, so that the bailiff could point out all points which the jury desired to see, and they were directed by the court not to talk with anyone but the bailiff concerning the premises. The court charged them to do nothing that would prejudice their minds. They went to the premises and viewed them, and one of the attorneys for each party went also.

When the jury returned, and the court reconvened, the attorney for the plaintiff moved the court for an order discharging the jury, for the reason that, when the jury had viewed the locus in quo as directed, and before they returned, one of the attorneys for the defendant requested the jury to go into a place where refreshments, etc., were sold, and to partake of refreshments, etc., claiming that said jury were, by the attor[199]*199ney for defendant, then and there treated to ice-cream, etc., and that said attorney paid for said ice-cream, etc., and that he also paid the car fare of the jury going to and returning from said premises. Counsel for the plaintiff claimed that the attorney for the defendant, in doing the things stated, supra, was guilty of misconduct, and asserted that the plaintiff could not consent to continue the trial before said jury under the circumstances.

The attorney for the defendant then stated to the court, inter alia, that the attorney for plaintiff instead of seeing that the bailiff was provided with funds to pay the car fare of the jury, failed to provide the funds, and said that he went to the attorney for the plaintiff, and asked him if anybody had provided funds for the jury’s transportation, and the attorney for the plaintiff said, “No,” and that he (the attorney for the defendant) then said that he would gladly do it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
136 P. 878, 69 Or. 194, 1913 Ore. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sandstrom-v-oregon-washington-r-nav-co-or-1913.