Wyandotte & D. R. Ry. v. King Bridge Co.

100 F. 197, 40 C.C.A. 325, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4245
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 12, 1900
DocketNo. 611
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 100 F. 197 (Wyandotte & D. R. Ry. v. King Bridge Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wyandotte & D. R. Ry. v. King Bridge Co., 100 F. 197, 40 C.C.A. 325, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4245 (6th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

DAY, .Circuit Judge.

This case comes before this court on writ of error to reverse a judgment rendered in favor of the King Bridge Company against the railway company in the circuit court for the Eastern district of Michigan. It arises upon a contract entered into between the townships of Springwells and Ecorse, the bridge company, and the railway company. It appears that the townships of Springwells and Ecorse lie on opposite sides of the river Rouge, a small stream near the city of Detroit. Prior to making the contract which is the basis of the suit, this river had been spanned by a wooden bridge connecting the two townships. • On the old bridge no provision had been made for a street railway. The townships, desiring to construct a new .bridge, and the railway company, wishing to participate in the use and benefits to be derived therefrom, on January 11, 1896, entered into a contract in which the said townships of Bpringwells and Ecorse were respectively parties of the first and second parts, and the railway company the party of the third part. This contract is as fallows:

“This agreement, made and entered into this 11th day of January, A. D. 1896, by and between the township of Springwells, in the county of Wayne, state of Michigan, party of the first part, the township of Ecorse, in said county and state, party of the second part, and the Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of Michigan, party of the third part, witnesseth: Whereas, the said several parties hereto are about to enter into a certain contract for the building of a bridge across the Rouge river on the River road, so called; said bridge to connect the said townships of Springwells and Ecorse; each of said townships to pay one-quarter of the cost of said bridge, and the said party of the third part to pay the remaining one-half of said bridge: Now, therefore, the said several parties hereto, in consideration of the premises, and of the contract now existing between the said township of Ecorse and said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway in relation to the building, operation, and maintenance of said bridge, and of the franchise and rights upon the Springwells end of the bridge, which are hereinafter set forth, and in further consideration of the faithful performance of the covenants hereinafter contained to be performed on the part of the said party of the third part, do mutually covenant and agree as follows:
[199]*199“(1) That ilie said bridge, when built, shall he thereaftorwarcls, and during rlie i>ei'io(I for which said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway is now incorporated, operated, cared for, repaired, and maintained by tlie said several parties hereto in the following proportion, viz.: The said townships of Springwells and Kcorse shall each pay one-fourth of the expense of operating, caring for, repairing, and maintaining said bridge, and the said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway, its successors and assigns, and any company or corporation succeeding to its corporate rights, shall pay one-lialf of the expense of operating, caring for, repairing, and maintaining' said bridge.
"(") The said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway shall pay one-half of the exist and expense of procuring and setting up a proper dynamo, or other suitable machinery or engine for operating the draw of said bridge., and shall, in the event that the said bridge is operated by electricity, furnish the current for operating said draw.
Inasmuch as the party of the third part shall furnish the current to operate said bridge gratis, it shall have the power to employ the man or men to operate said draw, but the salary to be paid such man or men shall be such as is agreed upon between tlie several parties hereto-. Said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway shall pay one-hall' of all said salarios, and the s.aiii townships each one-quarter thereof.
"i-l) The said bridge shall be a public bridge, and a pan of the public highway, It shall be under die exclusive control of the townships of Springwelis and Kcorse, and the proper officers thereof, as provided by law, in the" same manner as if the said bridge were built by said townships without; the assistance or co-operation of the said party of the third part: provided, however, that the parly of the third part shall have the exclusive right of crossing said bridge with its cars during the term of which said party of the third part is now incorporated, and said party of the first and second parts hereby grant to said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway the exclusive right to operate its lino and cars across said bridge during the present corporate life of said Wyan-dotte & Detroit River Railway, unless said party of the third part, or its successors or assigns, shall cease to operate its cars for a period of six months across said bridge, but a failure to operate its said cars, caused by unavoidable accident, shall not be construed as authorizing the parties of tlie first and second parts to grant the right of crossing said bridge to others: and provided, further, that the ears of the connecting lines with which said third party may contract for through traffic may run its cars over said bridge with the consent of said party of the third part, but not otherwise: and provided, also, that if the said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway shall renew its corporate existence, or shall, at or before, the expiration of its corporate life, transfer its properly rights to any other person or corporation, then tlie said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway, or its successor or successors, or the person or corporation succeeding to its corporate rights, shall have tlie right, in common with other street-railway companies, to operate its line and cars across said lnidgc: and provided, further, that, after the expiration of the corporate life of said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway, any person or corporation desiring to operate a line of cars across said bridge shall pay the said Wyandotte & Detroit, River Railway, or to the person or corporation succeeding to its property rights, a proportionate part of the value of one-half of the said bridge, in the condition in which said bridge may then be. If the value of said bridge cannot be agreed upon, its value shall he determined by three arbitra tors, who shall be capable and disinterested men, one, of whom shall be chosen by each of the parlies to the question; and the third by tlie two already chosen, and the determination of said arbitrators, or a majority of them, shall be binding.
“(.”)) Krom and after tlie completion of said bridge, the said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway shall, by contract with its connecting line, insure the carriage of passengers from the center of said bridge to any point of said city of Detroit reached by its connecting lines, at the current rate of faro for tlie time being of said connecting line, and that from all points in the township of Kcorse the said Wyandotte & Detroit River Railway shall insure, by contract with its connecting line, the carriage of passengers to any point in Detroit reached by said connecting line, at a rate of fare not to exceed the [200]*200rates of fare in Ecorse prescribed by the franchise under which said third party is operating, its line in Ecorse plus the current rate of fare for the time being charged by the connecting line.

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Bluebook (online)
100 F. 197, 40 C.C.A. 325, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wyandotte-d-r-ry-v-king-bridge-co-ca6-1900.