Kelley v. L. & N. Railroad
Kelley v. L. & N. Railroad
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Affiianing.
In April, 1911, Achilles Kelley brought a suit in the Estill Circuit Court against the Louisville & Atlantic Railroad Company, in which he sought to recover of said company damages in the sum of $1,000 for its failure to construct certain crossings over the road bed on his farm, and to build a suitable road from a point on his farm along its right of way of some 1,500 feet to the public road. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company having acquired the property of the Louisville & Atlantic Railroad Company, answered, and in addition to traversing the material allegations of the petition, pleaded a former judgment in bar of plaintiff’s right of recovery.' This pleading recites that on June 12, 1902, C. W. Sale and Samuel H. Sale instituted a suit in the Estill Circuit Court against the Louisville & Atlantic Railroad Company in which they sought to recover damages of said company because it and its predecessor had
Plaintiff filed a reply, to which a demurrer was sustained. He thereupon filed an amended reply, in which he sought to avoid, the force and effect of this judgment, and a demurrer was sustained to the reply as amended. Plaintiff thereupon tendered and offered to file an amended petition, in which he sought to have the defend
The opinion of this Court in the case of the Louisville & Atlantic Railroad Company v. Sale is to be found in the 29th Reporter, page 425. In that opinion it appears that, at the time it was rendered, the owners of this land, plaintiff among them, had been compensated in the sum of $2,067.35 for the land taken by condemnation proceedings under a judgment of the County Court of Estill County. That prior to the entry of this judgment the Railroad Company had made the following agreement with the-owners, which had been recorded in the County Court Clerk’s office:
“R. N. I. & B. R. Co., plaintiff, v. G. B. Kelley, etc., defendants. Proposition for crossing.' The plaintiffs in this proceeding, the R. N. I. & B. R. Co., propose to make, construct and maintain one good and sufficient under crossing of its railroad from one side to the other suitable for the crossing of stock, wagons and other vehicles, not less than twelve feet in length, at station 1494; a good grade crossing suitable for the same purpose, at station 1500; and further to grade and make the defendant a good road from a.point opposite station 1500 along the side of the railroad’s right of way and the bluff on Kell’s land out to the county road, so as to enable the defendants to reach that county road north of the house without crossing the railroad. And this proposition shall be made a part of the judgment that may be entered in this action.
That after the money had been paid for the land the plaintiffs instituted the suit referred to for the purpose of requiring the road to make the crossings mentioned, and for such damage as they had sustained by reason of the failure of the road to make these crossings and a proper outlet to the public road.
A motion was made during the progress of the trial of that case to require the plaintiffs to elect whether they would prosecute their suit to compel-the railroad to make-the crossings or to recover damages. This motion being sustained, plaintiffs elected to prosecute their suit for
“If the jury from the evidence find damages for the plaintiff in any sum under the first instruction, then the measure of damages is what it would have reasonably cost between December 31,1901, to June 12,1902, to have made the crossings and built the road as defined in the first instruction, and such damages, if any, as directly resulted to plaintiffs before the 12th day of June, 1902, and after December 31st, 1901, from the inconvenience to them, or either of them, by reason of said road not being built or said crossings not being built and maintained, not exceeding in the whole $750.”
This instruction was, upon appeal here, approved as having correctly stated the measure of damages under a rule of this court announced in the case of Cincinnati Southern Railroad Company v. Hudson, 88 Ky. 480, and later approved in the case of Wilson v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, 29 Ky. Law. Rep. 170. In that case, under the proof offered by plaintiff and his associate owners of the land, the jury had awarded them the amount of money which they showed it would take to make the crossings provided for in the contract and build the road out to the public road, and in addition had awarded them such damages as they had sustained by way of inconvenience, etc., up to the time of the filing of their suit. It would be a manifest injustice to' permit plaintiff and his associates to compel the railroad to make these improvements when they had already recovered from the railroad the amount of money which they have shown they would be required to spend in order to make the improvement. The court correctly so held. Plaintiff is not entitled to have the railroad now make these improvements, nor is he entitled to damage because of inconvenience suffered by him because they are not made, for, having compelled the railroad under, a judgment of court to pay to him and his associates the money required to make these improvements, it devolved upon him, and not the railroad, to make them, and if he has suffered inconvenience and damage because they are not made, it is due to his own neglect rather than any fault on the part of the railroad. He is entitled to no relief whatever as against the railroad company, and the court correctly so held.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.