Wiener v. Pennsylvania Railroad

10 N.E.2d 981, 292 Ill. App. 303, 1937 Ill. App. LEXIS 415
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 10, 1937
DocketGen. No. 39,370
StatusPublished

This text of 10 N.E.2d 981 (Wiener v. Pennsylvania Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wiener v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 10 N.E.2d 981, 292 Ill. App. 303, 1937 Ill. App. LEXIS 415 (Ill. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Hall

delivered the opinion of the court.

On September 24, 1936, plaintiff filed a complaint in the superior court of Cook county in which she alleges, in substance, that she owns and lives in certain property close to the point on Garfield boulevard, in Chicago, Illinois, where the defendant’s right-of-way crosses that boulevard; that prior to July, 1934, the defendant in routing and classifying freight cars assigned to its classification yards located at 49th and Wallace streets in Chicago for routing and classification purposes confined the switching operations that were incidental to said routing and classification to an area on the defendant’s right-of-way extending from a point approximately 1,500 feet north of the classification yards to a point 1,500 feet south of the classification yards; that in the doing of the railroad business of the defendant as conducted by it prior to July 13, 1934, on the right-of-way at and near the plaintiff’s house: The locomotives of the defendant did not throw off smoke, soot and cinders in such a manner and in such quantities as to penetrate into and cover the plaintiff’s house; the locomotives pulling the trains of the defendant did not cause the plaintiff’s house to vibrate and shake, did not cause the siding of the outside walls, the plastering and wallpaper on the inside walls, the plastering on the ceilings to crack and fall off; the noise of warning bells and the steam whistles on the locomotives of the defendant, the escape of steam from said locomotives did not annoy the plaintiff or keep the plaintiff and the tenants occupying her house from sleeping at night; there was no noisy bumping together of freight cars or the noisy squeaking of brakes to annoy the plaintiff and the tenants in her house and to keep them from sleeping at night; in the absence of vibration and shaking of the house the plaintiff and the tenants occupying her house were not in constant fear of injury from falling plaster; that in July, 1934, or thereabouts, the defendant changed its freight classification practices with reference to the routing and classification of said freight cars in that the switching operations incident to such routing and classification were not confined to the area on the defendant’s right-of-way that they were formerly confined; that the defendant in July, 1934, changed the purpose of its right-of-way, extending from a point approximately 1,500 feet south of the classification yards to a point approximately 2,000 feet to one-half mile south of G-arfield boulevard into a switching yard; consequently, locomotives pull along freight trains from the classification yard to a point approximately 2,000 feet south of Grarfield boulevard; that these locomotives violently push and pull these freight trains in a northerly direction, suddenly starting and suddenly stopping them; engaging in these new switching operations in this new area, these locomotives throw large quantities of smoke, soot and cinders on the plaintiff’s property, injuring it inside and out, and cause vibrations that shake her house violently, causing siding on the outside walls, the plastering on the inside walls and ceilings and the wallpaper on the walls to crack and fall off; that the falling plaster and the vibration kept the plaintiff and those who have occupied, or who occupy, the house with her in constant fear of injury; that the deafening noise from the new switching operations in the new switching area has kept plaintiff and the others who have occupied, or who occupy the house, from sleeping at night, and that as a result of the new switching operations her house has been greatly damaged in that its rental value has been destroyed; its value as a home for the plaintiff has been substantially impaired, and it has been all but rendered useless and valueless. Plaintiff claimed damages in the sum of $7,000. Defendant filed the following motion:

“The defendant, The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, a corporation, moves that the above-entitled action be dismissed, and for grounds of said motion says that the amended complaint is substantially insufficient in law in the following respects:

1. It fails to state a cause of action against the defendant.

2. It fails to show a breach by the defendant of any duty which it owed the plaintiff.

3. It fails to show that the defendant is using the portion of its right-of-way, as described in the amended complaint, for any purposes not within the scope of the defendant’s original acquisition of said right-of-way.

4. The alleged present use of said portion of the defendant’s right-of-way, as described in the amended complaint, is not, as a matter of law, inconsistent with or essentially different from the alleged former use.

5. The use of said portion of the defendant’s right-of-way, as described in the amended complaint, is not a new or additional use of said right-of-way for which the plaintiff is entitled to damages.

6. The alleged new use of said portion of the defendant’s right-of-way, as described in the plaintiff’s amended complaint, is a necessary and proper development and extension of the operation of the defendant’s railroad, and for any consequences thereof no damage has been caused the plaintiff for which she can recover in this suit.

7. The defendant, in making the alleged change in ' its freight classification practices with reference to the classification and routing of freight cars, as described in the plaintiff’s amended complaint, was and is operating in its public capacity, and is not liable in damages to the plaintiff for any consequences thereof.” The court allowed the motion of defendant and dismissed the petition. This is an appeal from that order.

In Chicago & E. I. R. Co. v. Loeb, 118 Ill. 203, an action on the case was brought by Adolph Loeb, against the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Company on June 9, 1880, in the superior court of Cook county, to recover damages sustained from the operation of defendant’s railroad, by throwing smoke, cinders and ashes npon plaintiff’s premises. Upon á trial by the court, without a jury, there was judgment for the plaintiff for $1,200, which was affirmed by the Appellate Court, and the defendant appealed further to the Supreme Court.

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Related

Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad v. Loeb
8 N.E. 460 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1884)
Kotz v. Illinois Central Railroad
59 N.E. 240 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1900)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 N.E.2d 981, 292 Ill. App. 303, 1937 Ill. App. LEXIS 415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiener-v-pennsylvania-railroad-illappct-1937.