Toledo v. L. S. & M. S. Ry. Co.

9 Ohio Cir. Dec. 135, 17 Ohio C.C. 265
CourtLucas Circuit Court
DecidedOctober 14, 1893
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 9 Ohio Cir. Dec. 135 (Toledo v. L. S. & M. S. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Lucas Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Toledo v. L. S. & M. S. Ry. Co., 9 Ohio Cir. Dec. 135, 17 Ohio C.C. 265 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1893).

Opinion

Bentley, J. (orally.)

The questions in this case are worthy of more elaborate treatment than we shall be able to give them in announcing our opinion.

In April, 1853, the Northern Indiana Railroad Co., the predecessor of the defendant, the Rake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Co., began proceedings in the probate court of this county for the appropriation of a strip of land on the northerly side of subdivision 2 of river tract No. 5 in this city, for a right of way for its contemplated railroad, said strip being about 150 feet in width. On June 10,1853, such appropriation was completed by the payment of the amount of the award in the probate court. Some two years later said railroad company caused the grading necessary for its roadbed, through said strip lengthwise, to be done, and in so doing made a cut at the point where'Broadway crosses said right of way at the present time, to the depth of about twenty feet. Over this cut, and at that point, the company then, at an expense to itself of $1,800, constructed a substantial bridge “ to accommodate the public [136]*136travel,” as it says in its answer in this case; and it and its successors in the title and use of said railroad, including the defendant, have, at their own expense, maintained a bridge there ever since, which has been used constantly by the public ever since Broadway has been a public street until a time not long prior to the commencement of this action, when the bridge at that place had become insufficient for the needs of the city, and unsafe and dangerous to those who might have occasion to pass there, and especially unsafe for the passage of street cars which the city had authorized to run across there. Thereupon the city having condemned the bridge as unsafe, notified the defendant it was required to build a new bridge at that point sufficient for the accommodation of the public travel along Broadway, which was largely increased, and the street tracks, bearing heavy electric motor cars, having been laid thereon since the present bridge was built. The company refusing to construct such new bridge, the city began this action for a mandatory injunction to compel the defendant to construct it. The railway company admits that a new bridge over its track at Broadway is needed, and that it is competent for the court to grant the relief prayed for if the company is under obligation to maintain any bridge there; but it denies that it is so obliged, for the reason while it is admitted that Broadway was at the commencement of the action, and is now, a public street of' the city, it was not such street when the predecessor of said defendant appropriated said right of way, nor when it constructed its grade, and it is claimed that in constructing said original bridge, and in maintaining and renewing it from time to time, the Northern Indiana Railroad Company, and afterwards the defendant, each acted under some misapprehension of its rights and duties, or that each acted in that regard simply by reason of the complaisance of certain officers or agents, or their desire to manifest their general good will, and that there was, in fact and in law, no such obligation upon the railroad companies ; that this construction and maintenance of a bridge in no wise interferes with the right of the defendant nor to maintain its denial that there was any original liability of the Northern Indiana Railroad Company to construct any bridge there, or any liability of it or the defendant at any time since to maintain one there. On the other hand, the city claims that there was a valid and existing street then at the time that the appropriation proceedings were begun and were concluded and when the track was graded.

The testimony which was produced before us brings up many interesting facts in the history of the city, and enables us, almost judicially, to refute the ancient slander that the Maumee country was unhealthy; because a large company of hale and hearty persons appeared before us as witnesses, who had enjoyed the felicity of a residence in this salubrious region, some of them for ten, others for fifty and sixty and even seventy years, and their appearance would indicate that the conditions here were favorable to longevity, at least.

The testimony bore more particularly upon the situation of Broadway in the old days, before this appropriation of 1853, and during that year and during the years since.

There is a statute bearing upon this matter, found in sec. 5284, Rev. Stat., which reads as follows: [137]*137such road or stream in such condition as not to impair its former .usefulness ; and any or all railroads hereafter constructed, which shall cross any avenue or public highway leading from a city of the first or second class, to a public cemetery of such city, situate within or without the limits of any such city, shall be constructed so as either to pass under or over such avenue or public highway, at such elevation or depression, as the case may be, as will allow the unobstructed passage of all wagons, carriages or other vehicles which it may be necessary for any person to use upon such avenue or public highway.”

[136]*136“A company may, whenever it is necessary in the construction of its road to cross a road or a stream of water, divert the same from its location or bed; but the company shall, without unnecessary delay, place

[137]*137And it is claimed that by reason of this statute, a statutory liability was incurred by the predecessor of the defendant to build this bridge and by itself and its successors to maintain it. It is also claimed that, independent of a statute, if there was a public highway across the right of way of a railroad company at the time it acquired such right of way and constructed its road, there was a common law obligation resting upon the railroad company, in reason and in fairness to make it possible at that point to safely cross its railway, and to erect and maintain such structures as would be reasonably necessary for the public highway at that place.

As is well understood, the principal controversy in this case is as to whether Broadway was, in legal acceptation, a road or street of the city, at the time of this appropriation, or, as another phase of the question might put it, at the time that the grade of this railroad was constructed at that point; and to this question mainly the testimony of witnesses and the evidence introduced were addressed. It was claimed upon the part of the city that before the acquiring of any right by the original railroad company at this point, there was a legal and valid establishment of Broadway at that point, and it is also urged on behalf of the city, that whether that is true or not- — that is, whether the road had been established according to the forms of any statute bearing upon it — there was in fact a public highway there, recognized and used by the public, and an obligation upon the city to keep it in repair as a street of the city; and if this road was not laid o'ut and established by the ordinary processes under the statutes, it had become so by a common law dedication upon the part of the owners of the lands and an acceptance of the dedication by the public authorities. The contention of the city is, that in either view of the case the obligation of the railroad company to construct and maintain the bridge was equally binding.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
9 Ohio Cir. Dec. 135, 17 Ohio C.C. 265, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toledo-v-l-s-m-s-ry-co-ohcirctlucas-1893.