State ex rel. Skeen v. Ogden Rapid Transit Co.

112 P. 120, 38 Utah 242, 1910 Utah LEXIS 13
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 25, 1910
DocketNo. 2172
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 112 P. 120 (State ex rel. Skeen v. Ogden Rapid Transit Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Skeen v. Ogden Rapid Transit Co., 112 P. 120, 38 Utah 242, 1910 Utah LEXIS 13 (Utah 1910).

Opinion

ERICK, J.

On tbe 27 th day of June, 1910, the plaintiff applied to the district court of Weber County, Utah, for a writ of mandate to require the defendant, as a common carrier of passengers, to stop its ears at a certain place named in the application for the purpose of permitting the plaintiff and others to enter upon said cars as passengers and to alight therefrom at the place stated. The district court, after a -hearing, issued a peremptory writ in which the prayer of the plaintiff was granted, and the defendant now presents the record of the proceedings in due form to this court for review on appeal.

A careful reading of the entire record, including all of the evidence adduced at the hearing, discloses substantially the following facts concerning which there is practically no dispute:

The defendant is a corporation organized as a common carrier of passengers, and owns and operates a certain line of street and interurban railway. The line of railway is operated, as aforesaid, for a distance of about seven miles between the Ogden Union Depot and what is known as the “Hermitage” located' in Ogden Canyon, in Weber County, Utah. At the mouth of -Ogden Canyon is located what is known as the Ogden Canyon Sanitarium, which is a public summer resort. A hotel for the accommodation of patrons, saloon, dance hall, and other places of amusement, are maintained there for the pleasure and amusement of the public generally. The sanitarium is located immediately east of the corporate limits of Ogden City, and west of that point defendant’s railway is operated as a street railway while east thereof — that is, within the Ogden Canyon proper — the road is operated as an interurban line. Some distance east of the [245]*245sanitarium, and witbin Ogden Canyon, there is what is known as the “Peery Resort,” where a few people temporarily live during the summer season. About three-quarters of a mile further east, and up the canyon, is what is known as the “Lewis Resort,” which is located on lands owned by J. S. and Eva Lewis, and to which' we shall further refer hereafter. Farther up the canyon still is what is known as the “Hermitage,” which is the eastern terminus of defendant’s line of railway. The Hermitage, like the Ogden Canyon Sanitarium, is a public resort with hotel and other conveniences, dancing pavilion, boating pond, and other attractions similar to those at the sanitarium aforesaid. The Ogden River, a considerable stream of water, flows through Ogden Canyon. The canyon is therefore a desirable place for camping, and for many years has been used by many citizens as a temporary place of residence during the summer or heated months of the year. While the canyon proper at many places is too narrow, and the sides thereof too precipitous, to be used for the purposes of either public or private resorts, yet there are numerous places where the canyon widens out somewhat, and at -some of such places public resorts have been established, while at other points resorts for summer residence have been maintained as aforesaid. A good road for all kinds of ordinary vehicles has been constructed and is maintained in the canyon.

It appears that prior to 1909 the line of railway terminated at the sanitarium, but that in that year the road was extended into the canyon to the Hermitage as before stated. In extending the line the road passed through the Peery resort before mentioned, and also through said Lewis resort. In consideration of being granted a right of way through* the lands owned by the Peerys the defendant entered into a contract whereby it agreed to stop its ears at that point when requested to do so by any person who desired to enter on or to alight from its cars there. Pursuant to this agreement the defendant has stopped and continues to stop its cars on request at said point. When the land owned by Lewis was reached, the defendant was refused permission to construct [246]*246its road thereon, and it was compelled to condemn a right of way through the same, and a strip of land one rod in width and a little over two thousand feet in length was accordingly condemned through said lands for a right of way. In the cénter of said tract defendant laid its track, which is standard guage, namely, four feet, eight and one-half inches between rails, while the cars are about eight feet, ten inches wide, projecting somewhat over each rail. While the Lewises own quite a large tract of land in and along each side of the canyon, the amount that is fit for summer residence is merely an oblong strip embracing between four and five acres of ground through which defendant’s line of railway is constructed and operated. When the line of railway was constructed in the summer of 1909, the defendant requested, and was given permission by Mr. Lewis to stop its cars at a certain private road crossing on the strip of land used for summer residences as aforesaid. What is called the Lewis resort is purely private — that is, a small parcel -of ground is leased to any one who desires to pitch a tent on the strip, or Mr. Lewis, with the land, also furnishes the tent or summer cottage to any one desirous of renting an abode during the summer months. Mr. Lewis testified that about nine-tenths of all the tenants rent the tent or house from him, while the remainder provide their own tents or summerhouses. Either the parcel of land to live on, or the tent or house, is rented for the summer season commencing some time in June and ending some time in September of each year, and each tenant is given the privilege of taking the same place the following summer if he so desires. The business has been conducted as aforesaid at the so-called Xewis resort for quite a number of years, and the number of those who have rented summer residences or places there las increased somewhat each year. This year there were ¡about one hundred persons, children and adults, - exclusive •of the Lewis household, living at the resort.

In June of this year plaintiff rented a summer residence from Lewis, and in that month moved into it with his family. On the 27th day of April, and before the summer season [247]*247opened in Ogden Canyon, tbe defendant posted notices in its cars that after that date it would not stop any of its cars at any point in the canyon “between Peery’s and the Hermitage.” The defendant also prepared a schedule for the running of its cars between said Ogden Union Depot and the Hermitage, and at the time of plaintiff’s demand was operating them in accordance with said schedule. According to this schedule, west of the sanitarium, and within the Ogden city limits, the cars are stopped at regular intervals, and at such places signs are placed on the overhead wires which read: “Cars stop here.” In this connection the evidence shows that one of the motormen, perhaps some others, upon request, has stopped^and permitted some persons to enter the car at points other than where the signs are put up, but it also appears that to do this was contrary to the orders of defendant, and occurred only on rare occasions. It also is made to appear that during the period of time that the road was being constructed in the summer-of 1909 in Ogden Canyon the defendant’s motorman also frequently permitted persons to either get on or alight from the cars at the Lewis resort, or at the upper end thereof at the point where the defendant at that time maintained a switch, but which has since been removed. There is no evidence, however, that the defendant stopped its cars for the purpose of permitting any person either to enter on or to alight from them at any point in the canyon except at the sanitarium, Peery’s, and the Hermitage after the 27th day of April', 1910.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
112 P. 120, 38 Utah 242, 1910 Utah LEXIS 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-skeen-v-ogden-rapid-transit-co-utah-1910.