Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Town of Remington
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Town of Remington
Opinion of the Court
This was a suit brought by appellee against appellant to restrain and enjoin it from fencing certain portions of its right of way in the town of Remington. It appears that appellant originally owned a right of way 150 feet wide extending east and west through said town; that appellant’s tracks were laid and trains operated thereon through the center of said strip; that said right of way intersected Main, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky streets, which streets extended north and south through said town; that between Ohio and Indiana streets appellant had its depot and buildings, which were located on the south side of appellant’s track on said right of way; that between said Ohio and Indiana streets buildings were erected facing said right of way; that prior to November 19, 1901, the public had used a portion of said right of way on each side of appellant’s tracks from Ohio street east to the corporation limits in front of said buildings; that at said last date appellee commenced to improve portions of said right of way so used by the public. Appellant brought suit to enjoin the improvement of said streets and to quiet its title to the whole of said right of way as against said town. Upon the hearing of said cause, the court decreed that a strip on the south side of said right of way, forty-seven feet in width at Ohio street and forty feet in width at the east line of Kentucky street, known as South Railroad street, and a strip forty feet in width on the north side of said right of way, between Ohio street and the eastern corporation limits, and known as North Railroad street, were declared to be public streets, to be used by the public and appellant mutually as streets. The court also
It was further decreed that neither party should erect any barriers between Ohio street and Indiana street to prevent free access to the depot or streets. Appellant proposes to fence only that portion of its said land so decreed to belong to it and from which appellee and the public were excluded, and in which, by said decree, appellee and the public were adjudged to have no interest; leaving the streets, street intersections and depot approaches open for the free use of the public.
The position of appellee in this case is wholly inconsistent with its position in the ease of Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Taber (1907), 168 Ind. 419, where it sought to levy assessments on this very ground that appellant proposes to fence, to pay for the improvement of the street established in the action upon which this case rests, wherein it was contended that said ground was the private property of appellant. Certainly if it all was a portion of the street, it was not subject to assessment for the improvement thereof. The Supreme Court in that case held that said ground was the property of appellant and subject to assessment. The appellant unquestionably has the right to fence its right of way, so long as it does not erect barriers in any of the streets of the town, as legally established, and so long as such barriers do not prevent free access of the streets of said town and its . depot along the established streets.
Judgment reversed, with instructions to grant a new trial.
070rehearing
Appellee also seeks to inject into the decree of 1901 certain mutual understandings and agreements in parol. There is no averment in the pleadings to warrant this.
The petition for a rehearing is overruled.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.