Sixth Avenue Railroad v. Gilbert Elevated Railway Co.

3 Abb. N. Cas. 53
CourtThe Superior Court of New York City
DecidedOctober 15, 1877
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Abb. N. Cas. 53 (Sixth Avenue Railroad v. Gilbert Elevated Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering The Superior Court of New York City primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sixth Avenue Railroad v. Gilbert Elevated Railway Co., 3 Abb. N. Cas. 53 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1877).

Opinion

Van Vorst, J.

This is an application for a stay of all proceedings upon a judgment entered in this action on the 23rd day of June, 1877. By the judgment the defendant is enjoined and restrained from building upon the Sixth avenue, in the city of New York, from Amity to Fifty-ninth streets, the elevated railway described in the complaint, “upon the plan” mentioned and specified in the judgment. The judgment also awarded to the plaintiff $2,164.94, the .costs of the action. An appeal has been taken by the defendant, from the judgment, to the general term of this court, and the defendant has given an undertaking on such appeal designed to stay the execution of the judgment.

By the provisions of the former Code, in force .when this appeal was taken, the execution of the judgment, in so far as it directed the payment of money, was stayed by notice of appeal and _ undertaking (§§ 335, 348); and by sections 1327, 1352 of the present Code these acts of the defendant secured the same result. Section 348 of the former Code provides that an appeal does not stay the proceedings, unless security be given as upon an appeal to the court of appeals, or “ unless the court or. a judge thereof so order.” I ‘do not find any provision in either Code which enables a party appealing to secure a stay of proceedings upon a judgment awarding a perpetual injunction, by giving an undertaking without the order of “the [56]*56court or a judge thereof.” Section 1351 of the Code of Civil Procedure has respect to appeals to the general term, and provides that “ security is not required to perfect the appeal, but, except when it is otherwise specially provided bylaw, the appeal does not stay the ■execution of the judgment, unless the court in which the appeal is taken, or a judge thereof, makes an order directing such stay. Such order may be made, and may, from time to time, be modified upon such terms as to security, or otherwise, as justice requires.

The present application must, therefore, be regarded as made with respect to the proceedings upon a judgment from which an appeal has been taken, which are not stayed by filing an undertaking simply in pursuance of some statutory direction, but is dependent -entirely upon an order made by the court or judge. I ■do not understand the counsel for the respondent absolutely to question the power of the court to grant a -stay of proceedings upon the judgment, if the facts be such as to justify its propriety. They did, and with reason, contend upon the argument that no order could be made by a judge at special term to modify or alter the judgment in any respect. No claim was interposed by the counsel for the appellant that such result was within their contemplation. They disavowed such intention or demand. The judgment must stand precisely as it was pronounced and entered, unless it be reversed or modified, in the only way the law provides—and that is by the judgment of the court on the present or any future appeal.

It has been decided in this court that on appeal from an order or judgment granting an injunction, the court may grant a stay of the respondent’s proceedings upon the order or judgment (Genin v. Chadsey, 12 Abb. Pr. 69). Hoffman, J., in that case says: “The power of the court to grant a stay upon terms is as applicable to cases of appeals from orders grant[57]*57ing an injunction as to any orders and he adds, “in Howe v. Searing,” in this court, at general term, “the -subject was examined and the power recognized, and it was held that when the general term had affirmed a judgment for a perpetual injunction and there was an appeal, a judge at special term could grant a stay of proceedings pending an appeal” (Howe v. Searing, 6 Bosw. 684).

The appellant claims to be entitled to the order which it asks, upon the steps already taken—that is, by the notice of appeal and undertaking already given. But in further support of this application the appellant’s counsel have handed up the opinions lately delivered by the court of appeals, in the cases of the Gilbert Elevated Railway Company v. Kobbe, and in the matter of the petition of the New York Elevated Railroad Company. These opinions form a portion of the papers upon which this motion is made. The claim of the appellant is that the court of appeals has swept away the ground upon which the judgment in this action rests. Had I been satisfied upon the argument that this was clearly so, I would have deemed it my duty at once, and without any delay, to have granted the order staying proceedings. No good reason could have been assigned why the order, under such conditions, should have been withheld. The important rights of the appellant, it seems to me, would have justly demanded a prompt order. But as’ it did not then appear to me to be entirely clear that every right of the parties adjudicated in this action had been passed upon by the judgment of the court of appeals, a delay, as limited as my engagements in court would allow, seemed necessary, in which the papers could be examined, so as to ascertain what has really been, decided by both courts. Justice Sedgwick, before whom the trial at special term was had, in his opinion (41 Super. Ct. 489), reached the conclusion that if the

[58]*58Rapid Transit Act intended to give, as the defendants claim, the right to use the Sixth-avenue, by placing its tracks upon upright columns in the middle of the street, it is in that respect unconstitutional. He thought it clear upon the trial that the plaintiff suffered an injury peculiar to itself, from the use of the street threatened by the defendant, which entitled it to maintain an action in its own name. He says : " Many other objections were made, based upon the statutes and upon the constitution. A competent examination of these would consume more time than has already been taken, and nothing would be gained toward determining practically the rights of the parties here. These objections were grave and important.” He ordered judgment for the plaintiff, perpetually enjoining the defendant. In the opinion of the judge, therefore, the conclusion reached was based exclusively upon the unconstitutionality of the act of the legislature, under which the defendant was proceeding to construct its railway in the manner indicated. It is true that the judge does find, in pursuance of. what is pointed out in his opinion, that the row of columns on each side of the plaintiff’s tracks and in front of their depot on the Sixth-avenue, would exclusively use and occupy spaces in the street that plaintiff is entitled to use for the purpose of its franchises ; that the damage suffered by plaintiff is peculiar to itself, and that, as owners in fee of land, would also suffer damage peculiar to itself by the avenue in front of its land being incumbered by such rows of columns ; that the construction of the road would occasion special damage and injury to the plaintiff in the other respects mentioned by him. But the conclusions of law reached by the judge upon the facts found establish only that the defendant had not any authority in law to construct and operate an elevated railway according to the specifications, conditions and requirements mentioned in his [59]*59finding of fact; that the act of the legislature under which the defendant was proceeding did not authorize the construction and operation of such road; that the act of the legislature referred to by him did not constitute and confer legal authority to the defendant to construct and operate the railway it proposed to build.

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Related

Genin v. Chadsey
12 Abb. Pr. 69 (The Superior Court of New York City, 1861)

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Bluebook (online)
3 Abb. N. Cas. 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sixth-avenue-railroad-v-gilbert-elevated-railway-co-nysuperctnyc-1877.