Sanitary District of Chicago v. Commonwealth Edison Co.

192 N.E. 248, 357 Ill. 255
Illinois Supreme Court·Decided June 15, 1934·No. No. 21587. Reversed and remanded.·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice DeYoung

delivered the opinion of the court:

The Sanitary District of Chicago brought an action of assumpsit against the Commonwealth Edison Company in the superior court of Cook county. Judgment was rendered against the defendant for $95,954.72 and costs. Upon the prayer for an appeal by the defendant, the trial court certified that the validity of a municipal ordinance was involved in the case and that the public interest required the prosecution of an appeal directly to this court. Accordingly, the record is submitted for review.

The council of the city of Chicago, by an ordinance passed June 28, 1897, granted to the Commonwealth Electric Company, now the Commonwealth Edison Company, the right, during the period of fifty years, to construct and operate a plant or plants and to use the streets of the city for its lines of wire or other electrical conductors. The ordinance was accepted by the company and remains in force. Prior to October 16, 1911, the appellant erected a power house on its land west of the north branch of the Chicago river and north of Roscoe street. The company also built a conduit within the boundaries of its land from the power house to the river. The conduit was of substantial construction, 25^2 feet from the top to the bottom and 14 feet wide, and the top was 13JÍ feet below the surface of the ground. It was divided into two sections, one above the other, the lower section serving to bring water from the river to the plant for cooling purposes and the upper one to return the water to the river. The conduit was an essential part of the appellant’s plant.

On October 16, 1911, the city council passed an ordinance for the opening of North California avenue from Roscoe street to Addison street and the condemnation for that purpose of an easement, among others, extending diagonally across the part of appellant’s land which included the conduit. The ordinance provided that, upon the entry of an order by a court of competent jurisdiction granting the city the right to take possession of and to damage the property necessary for the opening of the street, the commissioner of public works should remove forthwith any building or other obstruction located upon the land taken and put the surface in such condition that it could be used for public travel. The proceedings under the ordinance were conducted in the county court of Cook county, and on October 10, 1912, a jury fixed the just compensation to be paid for the taking and damaging of the appellant’s property at $17,900. Judgment was rendered on the verdict and on October 22, 1914, the county court entered an order reciting that the city had paid the compensation so ascertained and adjudging that the city had the right, at any time thereafter, to take possession of and use for the purposes of a street, the parcel of land for which compensation had been so paid. The city took possession of the strip of ground, adapted it for, and since has used it as, a street. The opening of the street did not interfere with the appellant’s undisturbed possession and use of the conduit.

Subsequently on June 18, 1924, the city council passed an ordinance granting to the Sanitary District of Chicago the right, easement and authority to construct and operate under and through certain streets, public alleys and highways of the city, an intercepting sewer with the appurtenances as an adjunct to the North Shore and the main channels of the district. The grant was made upon the condition, among others, that the whole expense of the construction and operation of the sewer should be borne by the district. Paragraph (/) of section 4 of the ordinance, however, required “all owners of conduits, * * * and equipment or other structures within any portion of the streets, public alleys and highways to be excavated in the construction of said intercepting sewer” to make, at their expense, such changes in the location of their equipment and property as the construction of the sewer might render necessary.

The appellee, the Sanitary District of Chicago, on June 19, 1924, passed an ordinance providing for the construction of a system of intercepting sewers as adjuncts to its North Shore and main channels. Included as a part of this system was a sewer in California avenue as extended pursuant to the ordinance passed October 16, 1911. This sewer was of such size and it was to be laid at such a depth in the street that its construction required the demolition of a portion of the upper or outlet section of the appellant’s conduit and the re-building of that section alongside the lower or intake section. The appellant refused to bear this expense. To enable the appellee to proceed with the construction of its sewer, the parties agreed that the appellant would re-build the outlet section in the desired location and that the appellee would advance the cost of the work upon the condition that it might, within three years after completion, institute legal proceedings to determine the question of liability for such cost; that the final adjudication of a court of competent jurisdiction upon appeal or writ of error should be conclusive upon the parties and that, if required by the decision, the appellant would reimburse the appellee for the money it had advanced. The appellant re-built the outlet section alongside the other one, and the appellee paid the cost, amounting to $95,954.72. To recover this sum, the appellee instituted this suit.

Two grounds are urged by the appellee as the bases for its assumed right to construct the intercepting sewer in California avenue and in the prosecution of that work to destroy, wholly or partially, the conduit of the appellant without incurring the obligation to pay compensation for the resulting damage; first, the police power, and second, the condemnation pursuant to the ordinance extending California avenue across the property of the appellant, the effect of which proceeding, it is insisted, was to authorize the city directly, or by delegation as in the case at bar, to take possession of, and to damage at, above or below the surface, the property within the limits defined by the ordinance.

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Sanitary District of Chicago v. Commonwealth Edison Co., 192 N.E. 248, 357 Ill. 255 (Ill. 1934).

192 N.E. 248 (Sanitary District of Chicago v. Commonwealth Edison Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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