Berger v. Ohlson
Berger v. Ohlson
Opinion of the Court
This cause is before the Court on final hearing on the' amended complaint, answer to the amended complaint, affirmative answer and the reply.
The plaintiff, in his amended complaint, alleges that he is a citizen of the United States, owner of real property and a tax payer in the City of Anchorage, Alaska; that he is the owner of the Discoverer, a hundred-ton motorship, and the Kasilof, a sixty-ton motorship; and is licensed, by the United States Government, to transport freight and passengers from Seattle, Washington, to Anchorage, Alaska; that for a number of years last past, he has been and is regularly engaged in the summer months in transporting freight and passengers from Seattle, Washington, to
The defendants have filed their answer, in which they admit that one is the general manager and the other was the acting manager of the Alaska Railroad; admit they have demanded wharfage for cargo handled over the so-called City Dock; admit that they refused to permit removal of freight from the wharf or its land without payment of wharfage charges; admit that the Alaska Railroad is a
That by virtue of an Act of Congress of March 3, 1891, as amended, 16 U.S.C.A. § 471, the President established the Chugach National Forest which covered the premises described in the amended complaint; that all of the lands described in plaintiff’s complaint remained so set
That said lands thus withdrawn from the Chugach National Forest were thereby withdrawn from settlement, location, entry or other disposition for use of the Alaska Railroad as its Terminal Reserve; that the above described lands have always heretofore been and at all times mentioned in the complaint herein and now are reserved as above alleged and are now and have always heretofore been the exclusive property of the United States of America and not subject to settlement or acquisition in any manner but by express grant of the United States of America; that the plaintiff never has had and does not now have any right, title nor interest in or to any part of the Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve; that the City of Anchorage, a municipal corporation, never has had and does not now have any right, title nor interest in or to any part of the Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve; that the Court has no jurisdiction of this cause for the reason that the United States of America is the real party in interest herein; that the SS
In reply to the affirmative answer, the plaintiff admits that the defendants are the general manager and acting general manager of the Alaska Railroad, but avers that he has no knowledge as to the present duties of the defendant J. T. Cunningham; admits that the Territory of Alaska was purchased from Russia; that the wharf, dock and roadway mentioned are located upon lands bordering upon Cook Inlet, a navigable body of water; that the Alaska Railroad was constructed as mentioned in the answer; that the President of the United States was authorized to do the things set forth in the answer; that he has no knowledge of the establishment of the Chugach- National Forest and therefore denies the same; that he has no knowledge of the withdrawal and establishment of the Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve and therefore denies the same; denies that the plaintiff and the City of Anchorage do not have any right in the Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve; denies that the Court has no jurisdiction; admits that the SS Lake Francis has been fully discharged; denies that the defendants never have interfered with the plaintiff in his. operation of the MS Discoverer and the MS Kasilof and renews the prayer set forth in the Complaint. •
This matter previously came before the Court on an order to show cause, at which time the evidence introduced showed that the dock and roadway in question were all on tide lands of Cook Inlet and below the line of mean high tide and the Court being of the opinion that no lands below mean high tide were reserved by the Presidential Order referred to as the Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve, enjoined the defendants as prayed for in the complaint.
There is no evidence of any large ships being unloaded by lightering over the City Dock prior to May, 1938, except that the plaintiff, in 1934, 1935, 1936 and 1937, when the tides were right and when a $5 per ton wharfage was demanded on the other docks, at various times brought cargoes from the Discoverer on scows to and over the City Dock or the ground adjacent thereto and at some times up to 1936 landed the Discoverer at the dock; that the plaintiff did not use the City Dock during the season of 1939 because the tides were too small; that this use made of the City Dock and roadway was, as far as the use was known, with the tacit consent of the Alaska Railroad. .
The plaintiff, by virtue of the City building and maintaining a public wharf or dock, known as the City Dock, on the shore of Cook Inlet, a navigable arm of the Pacific Ocean, undoubtedly has a right to land at and unload on that part of said wharf that is below mean high tide. Sheldon v. Messerschmidt, 9 Cir., 247 F. 104, 159 C.C.A. 322, 4 Alaska Fed. 658; Decker v. Pacific Coast S.S. Co., 9 Cir., 164 F. 974, 3 Alaska Fed. 229; Columbia Canning Co. v. Hampton, 9 Cir., 161 F. 60, 88 C.C.A. 224, 3 Alaska Fed. 65. The plaintiff likewise has a right to ’cross the railroad right-of-way at any established crossing and to have reasonable cross roads established. The own
22 Ruling Case Law, p. 862, § 113: “The nature of, railway service requires exclusive occupancy. And it is well settled that a railroad company is entitled to the uninterrupted and exclusive possession and occupancy of its tracks and all of its right of way necessary for conducting its business, except when built on the public highway or over public crossings. * * * ”
51 C.J. p. 596, § 264: “Mutuality of Rights of Company and Public in General. Unless an exclusive right is granted to the railroad company by or under the authority of the legislature, in clear and explicit terms or by necessary implication, the right given to a railway company to lay down and use tracks in a street or highway is not exclusive, but, as a general rule, is merely the right to use- the street or highway on equal terms with, and subject to, the general public’s right to occupy and use the same; and the rights of each therein must be exercised with due regard to the rights and nature of the use of the other. # * * »
Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. General Electric Ry. Co., 7 Cir., 112 F. 689, 691:
“The appellant has a great railway system extending between Chicago and the Pacific Coast, with valuable terminals in Chicago held under leases, but its right to maintain this bill must be tested by its property interests in the crossing at Dearborn street, and not by the mere vicinity of its important interests and connecting tracks. * * *
“It is equally well settled by the uniform line of decisions in the same state that the use of a street by a steam railway is legitimate when duly authorized, but that no exclusive use is conferred by the permit, and it can ‘only be enjoyed in common with the use of the avenue by the pub-*616 lie as an ordinary highway, and without materially impairing its usefulness as such.’ * * *
“With the rights of the appellant in this street crossing thus defined, they are in subordination to the use for street purposes, which includes use for a street railway. The right in held in common, is ‘joint and mutual, not exclusive’ * * * and the primary object of the street is for ordinary passage and travel, of which the public and individuals cannot rightfully be deprived. * * * ”
These rights, however, are not available to the plaintiff unless he also has the right to use the road over the Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve, leading from the said wharf over the railroad right-of-way to the City of Anchorage. Therefore the important question is: What right has the plaintiff acquired under which he can use this roadway?
Under the evidence, the use and construction of said road was commenced in July, 1915, at a time when the lands were in the Chugach National Forest and a short time prior to the time that the Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve was created, on August 31, 1915. While these lands were part of the Forest Reserve, the law, Title 16, U.S.Code, Section 478, 16 U.S.C.A. § 478, applied: “Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as prohibiting the egress or ingress of actual settlers residing within the boundaries of national forests, or from crossing the same to and from their property or homes; and such wagon roads and other improvements may be constructed thereon as may be necessary to reach their homes and to utilize their property under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture. * * * ”
As the above originally passed, C. 2, Sec. 1, 30 Stat. 36, it provided that the rules should be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. On April 4, 1900, XXX Decision of the Department of the Interior, page 23, the Secretary of the Interior promulgated rules and regulations under the above statute which contain the following: “9. Pri
It is admitted by both sides that the statute of limitations and adverse possession do not run against the Government and that adverse possession does not result in any right in favor of the individual or the public holding such possession against the Government. Redfield v. Parks, 132 U.S. 239, 10 S.Ct. 83, 33 L.Ed. 327; Sparks v. Pierce, 115 U.S. 408, 6 S.Ct. 102, 29 L.Ed. 428; Simmons v. Ogle, 105 U.S. 271, 26 L.Ed. 1087; Palmer v. Low, 98 U.S. 1, 25 L.Ed. 60; Morrow v. Whitney, 95 U.S. 551, 24 L.Ed. 456; Oaksmith v. Johnston, 92 U.S. 343, 23 L.Ed. 682; Hedrick v. Hughes, 15 Wall. 123, 21 L.Ed. 52; Gibson v. Chouteau, 13 Wall. 92, 20 L.Ed. 534; Frisbie v. Whitney, 9 Wall. 187, 19 L.Ed. 668; Jourdan v. Barrett, 4 How. 169, 11 L.Ed. 924; Lindsey v. Miller, 6 Pet. 666, 8 L.Ed. 538; Buford v. Houtz, 133 U.S. 320, 10 S.Ct. 305, 33 L.Ed. 618; Omaha & Grant Smelting & Refining Co. et al. v. Tabor, 13 Colo. 41, 21 P. 925, 5 L.R.A. 236, 16 Am.St.Rep. 185. It is doubtful whether, even if adverse possession gave a right against the Government, the plaintiff in the case has made out a case, for the reason that the plaintiff contends, and the evidence supports his contention, that the use was permissive. Possession cannot be permissive and adverse at the same time. It is therefore apparent that the plaintiff has not acquired any right by adverse possession to the use of said road.
However, the plaintiff contends that since the use. was permissive, and the City of Anchorage has expended
This is not a case between the City of Anchorage and the Alaska Railroad in which the Alaska Railroad seeks to appropriate the improvements made by the City. Under the evidence, the defendants do not object to the use of the City Dock as it has been heretofore used, but object to any use of the City Dock that diverts the traffic which ordinarily comes to docks operated by the Alaska Railroad and thus deprives the Alaska Railroad of its wharfage. While it is undoubtedly true that the railroad is not allowed to charge for facilities that do not belong to it, nevertheless, that does not prevent the owner of the wharves who is also the owner of other uplands from preventing the use of these other uplands unless the equivalent of the wharf-age charge is paid to it.
10 R.C.L. § 19, pp. 689, 690: It has been said that it is difficult to define equitable estoppel, that the cases themselves must be looked to and applied by way of analogy rather than a rule and that the following sums up the cases:
It follows that the tacit permission given the City and the public to build and use the dock and roadway for a certain use does not estop the Government when a different use is being made of its property, even if it has permitted such use occasionally. The temporary order should be set aside and a permanent injunction refused.
The defendants may present findings of fact, conclusions of law and a decree in accordance herewith.
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