Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Taylor

200 S.W. 1117, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 88
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 7, 1918
DocketNo. 1902.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 200 S.W. 1117 (Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Taylor, 200 S.W. 1117, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 88 (Tex. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

WILLSON, C. J.

(after stating the facts as above). The validity of the judgment is attacked on two grounds:

1. Notwithstanding the operation of the *1118 roundhouse with its appurtenances and appliances “produced,” as found by the court, “smoke, soot, dust, unpleasant vapors, gases, and noises,” which so injured appellee’s property as to depreciate its value, it is insisted that appellant was not liable as determined by the judgment. The contention is based upon findings: (1) That appellant was a federal corporation engaged in interstate commerce as a common carrier; (2) that it was necessary to the conduct of its business as such a carrier to construct and operate the roundhouse, etc.; (3) that it was more convenient to it, and less expensive, to construct and operate same at the place it did construct same than at any other place obtainable for the purpose; (4) that the roundhouse, etc., could not be operated without the emission therefrom of smoke, soot, dust, unpleasant vapors, gases, and noises; (5) that in the construction and operation thereof appellant neither took nor destroyed appellee’s property, or any of it; and (6) that appellant was not guilty of negligence in either the construction or operation of the roundhouse.

[1, 2] It could not be, and we do not understand that it is, contended that the annoyance to occupants of the premises in question caused by smoke, soot, dust, unpleasant vapors, gases, and noises which the court found were emitted in the operation of the roundhouse did not constitute a nuisance within the meaning of the law. 29 Cyc. 1152, 1184; Daniel v. Railway Co., 96 Tex. 327, 72 S. W. 578. That being true, that it was more convenient and less expensive to appellant to construct and operate the roundhouse at the place where it did construct and operate same than at some other place, that in constructing and operating same as it did appellant neither “took” nor “destroyed” the property in question, and that appellant was not guilty of negligence either in the construction or operation of the roundhouse was of no importance. 29 Cyc. 1155, 1161; Railway Co. v. Hall, 78 Tex. 169, 14 S. W. 259, 9 L. R. A. 298, 22 Am. St. Rep. 42; Railway Co. v. Edrington, 100 Tex. 496, 101 S. W. 441, 9 D. R. A. (N. S.) 988. Therefore, if the contention is a sound one, it must be because appellant, being a federal corporation engaged in interstate commerce as a common carrier, was not liable, as otherwise it would have been, for the consequences of its acts in the particulars complained of. And this seems to be the view appellant takes of the matter. It insists that because it was such a corporation its liability was determinable with reference alone to its charter and the federal Constitution and laws. It then calls attention to the fact that, while it was provided in the acts of Congress incorporating it that it should secure, “in accordance with the laws of the state or territory, in which they were situated,” such lands as it was necessary for it to take for its line of railway, said acts contained no provision making it liable where it did not talce or destroy, but merely damaged, property. It then refers to the clause in, the Fifth Amendment to the federal Constitution declaring that private property shall not “be taken for public use without just compensation,” and argues, in effect, that the prohibition against talcing such property without compensating the owner licensed it to damage it without compensating him. It cites, as supporting its view of the law of the cáse, Northern Transportation Co. v. City of Chicago, 99 U. S. 635, 25 L. Ed. 336, and Richards v. Washington Terminal Co., 233 U. S. 546, 34 Sup. Ct. 654, 58 L. Ed. 1088, L. R. A. 1915A, 887. The first mentioned of the two cases was for damages the transportation company claimed against the city because of a temporary obstruction which prevented access by the company to property it owned, due to work of the city in improving its streets. The principle which controlled in the determination of the question in that case we think has no application to this one. In the Richards Case it appeared that the terminal company, having been authorized by acts of Congress to do so, constructed a tunnel and tracks for use by railway trains. A fanning system installed in the tunnel forced smoke and gases emitted from engines while in the tunnel out of same. The smoke and gases injured the plaintiff’s dwelling house, which was situated 114 feet from the mouth of the tunnel. ' The Supreme Court, reversing the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, held that the terminal company was liable to the plaintiff for damages to his property caused by the gases and smoke that issued from the tunnel. In so holding the Supreme Court said:

“The case shows that Congress has authorized, and in [legal] effect commanded, defendant to construct its tunnel with a portal located in the midst of an inhabited portion of the city [of Washington]. The authority, no doubt, includes the use of steam locomotive engines in the tunnel, with the inevitable concomitants of foul gases and smoke emitted from the engines. No question is made but that it includes the installation and operation of a fanning system for ridding the tunnel of this source of discomfort to those operating the trains and traveling upon them, All this being granted, the special and peculiar damage to the plaintiff as a property owner in close proximity to the portal is the necessary consequence, unless at least it be feasible to install ventilating shafts or other devices for preventing the outpouring of gases and smoke from the entire length of the tunnel at a single point upon the surface, as at present. Construing the acts of Congress in the light of the Fifth Amendment, they do not authorize the imposition of so direct and peculiar and substantial a burden upon plaintiff’s property without compensation to him. If tho damage is not preventable by the employment at reasonable expense of devices such as have have been suggested, then plaintiff’s property is ‘necessary for the purposes contemplated,’ and may be acquired by' purchase or condemnation (32 Stat. at L. 916, c. 856, § 9), and pending its- acquisition defendant is responsible. If the damage is readily preventable, the statute furnishes no excuse, and defendant’s responsibility follows on general principles.”

*1119 It seems to us that the case from which the quotation above is made, far from supporting, instead determines, appellant’s view of the law to bo erroneous, and that it alone might very well be regarded as sufficient authority for overruling appellant’s contention. But as strong, if not stronger, authority for doing that is found in Railway Co. v. Fifth Baptist Church, 108 U. S. 317, 2 Sup. Ct. 710, 27 L. Ed. 739, and cases following it. In the Baptist Church Case the railway company had constructed and was operating an enginehouse and repair shop near the church. The suit was by the church for damages caused by noise, smoke, cinders, etc., emitted from the enginehouse and shops.

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Related

Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Reeves
256 S.W. 902 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1923)
Wight v. Belcher
249 S.W. 453 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1923)
Daniels v. Wight
249 S.W. 454 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1923)
Wight v. Belcher
226 S.W. 472 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1920)
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202 S.W. 814 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1918)

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Bluebook (online)
200 S.W. 1117, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-p-ry-co-v-taylor-texapp-1918.