Seattle & Montana Railroad v. Roeder

70 P. 498, 30 Wash. 244, 1902 Wash. LEXIS 678
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 24, 1902
DocketNo. 4199
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 70 P. 498 (Seattle & Montana Railroad v. Roeder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seattle & Montana Railroad v. Roeder, 70 P. 498, 30 Wash. 244, 1902 Wash. LEXIS 678 (Wash. 1902).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Mount, J.

On July 23, 1901, the appellant filed its petition in the court below praying for condemnation of a right of way over the land of respondents. On October 21 of the same year, all the parties having appeared in the cause, the court made and entered an order adjudging that the use was a public use, and that there was a necessity therefor, and ordered a jury to determine the compensation to be paid to the respondents for the lands appropriated, and for the damages occasioned by reason of the appropriation. A jury was thereupon impaneled, and the cause proceeded to trial. On Hovember 1 the jury returned a verdict in favor of the respondents Henry Roeder, Victor E. Roeder and wife, and Lottie T. Roth, for $72,000, and in favor of C. I. Roth, a lessee of the property, in the sum of $8,000. Judgment was entered upon the verdict, and from this judgment appeal is prosecuted.

[248]*248The lands in controversy consist of tide lands and uplands upon which a sandstone quarry, known as the “Ohuckanut Quarry,” is located. The stone quarry lies on the face of a cliff ranging from 75 to 200 feet in height, and extending for a distance of about 6,000 feet north and south. This cliff faces on Ohuckanut bay, an arm of Puget Sound, and the base of the cliff lies along the water front, against which the tide ebbs and flows. The tide lands lie between the face of the cliff and deep water. The ledge of stone known as the “Ohuckanut Quarry” lies exposed against the face of this cliff at an angle of about 60 degrees. The right of way sought to be condemned lies near the base of this cliff at the north end, and extends along the same, and across respondents’ property. About midway of the quarry the right of way enters upon the quarry, and from that point south appropriates the whole of the ledge. The right of way is 80 feet in width in front of and along the quarry, and at other places is 100 feet in width, and lies between shipping and the quarry. The saw mills, shops, power house, and other buildings used in connection with the quarry are in the right of way, and the construction of the road necessitates their removal. The petition and decree reserved to respondents an easement across appellant’s right of way for carrying stone to a dock for shipment, and a location for mills and shops and derricks, and also agrees to carry whatever fresh water flows from the uplands across the right of way. The respondent O. I. Eoth had a five-year lease of the quarry property, and was in active operation thereof.

Appellant makes forty-four assignments of error in its brief. The first nine assignments are based upon rulings of the court in permitting cross-examination of appellant’s witnesses upon the profits of quarrying the'stone, upon [249]*249the specific buildings in which the stone has been used, upon the current price of stone from the quarry, upon the possible use of tide lands, upon the cost of fills and the effect of cutting off certain streams of water upon the uplands from the tide lands, upon the amount of stone in the “big blast” and the cost of quarrying the stone elsewhere, upon the value of certain kinds of stone in the quarry fixed with reference to the lease of defendant O. I. Roth, and upon the effect of cutting off the quarry from navigable water. Whether the cross-examination upon these points was admissible or not depends largely upon the range taken in the direct examination. To a clear understanding of the questions presented it would be necessary to set out a large part of the examination, both direct and cross, which we do not deem necessary, because definite rules for cross-examination cannot be applied in all cases, and each case must necessarily depend largely upon its own peculiar features. The trial judge has a large discretion in allowing cross-examination of witnesses where market value is involved, and where expert witnesses are resorted to to establish such value. We shall not, therefore, burden this opinion by setting out the evidence upon which these questions arose. It is sufficient to say that the witnesses in giving evidence upon direct examination were asked to fix, and did fix, the value of the property condemned, and the damage which, in their opinion the defendant’s would suffer by reason of the construction of the appellant’s line of railroad. The questions to which exceptions were taken arose generally when, upon cross-examination, the witness was asked concerning the method by which he had arrived at his conclusion as to the damage, what elements of damage he had considered, and his reasons for his opinion. R’o doubt great latitude was given in both the direct and cross-ex[250]*250amination of all the witnesses, hut great latitude should he allowed in eases of this character, because the objects of such cross-examination are principally to determine the credibility of the witness, and whether or not the element of damages which he has considered is proper or improper to be considered, and whether he has taken into consideration all the elements of value in arriving at a conclusion. We have gone through the entire evidence, and are satisfied that no reversible error as to these particular questions has occurred.

Errors assigned numbered 10, 14, 15 and 19, arel that respondents’ witnesses were permitted to place values upon the property in the segregate; that is, upon the stone in the south half of the quarry, and upon the stone in the north half thereof, and upon the value of the upland and upon the value of the tide land. The question presented here will be discussed more fully under the instructions further on in this opinion. We think this was not error. Where different classes of property are taken, it seems that witnesses ought to be allowed to fix a value upon each different class. At any rate* this was the course pursued by the appellant. It was permitted, when making out its case, to introduce evidence as to the value of these several classes of property, and for that reason alone respondents should be permitted to meet the evidence in the same way. Tacoma Light & Water Co. v. Huson, 13 Wash. 124 (42 Pac. 536).

Errors 11 and 12 relate to motions to strike out certain evidence of the witness Black, going to the value of the property, and how the same should be worked, because he did not qualify himself to testify. Mr. Black testified that he knew the lands in controversy; had lived in the vicinity thereof for thirteen years; had large real estate holdings; was in the real estate business, and had [251]*251sold $200,000 worth in the last two years; had examined the property with reference to purchasing the same; had owned and operated stone quarries, and that he knew the market value of the property. The evidence relating to the manner of working the property went to the damage caused the portion of the quarry not taken because of the proximity of the road to the workings. We think from- this examination he was qualified to testify as to the value and to the method of operating the property, and that both motions were properly denied. Montana Ry. Co. v. Warren, 187 U. S. 348 (11 Sup. Ct. 96) ; Chicago & E. R. R. Co. v. Blake, 116 Ill. 163 (4 N. E. 488) ; Santa Ana v. Harlin, 99 Cal. 538 (34 Pac. 224).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 P. 498, 30 Wash. 244, 1902 Wash. LEXIS 678, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seattle-montana-railroad-v-roeder-wash-1902.