Minnesota Supreme Court, 1899

Rogers v. Town of Aitkin

Minnesota Supreme Court · Decided November 1, 1899 · Start

77 Minn. 539; 80 N.W. 702; 1899 Minn. LEXIS 752 (Minnesota Reports)

Counsel

True & Wetherby, for appellant., F. W. Hall, for respondents.

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Citation treatment has not been reviewed for this case. The notes below come from the citation graph and the Minnesota Revisor's amendment records, not from a review of how later courts treated this decision.

(as of 9/30/2026)

Last cited by a Minnesota appellate court in 1914, among the opinions in this site’s citation index.

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Cases that cite this one

3 later published cases cite this decision.

Town of Wells v. Sullivan (Minn. 1914)
Minneapolis Brewing Co. v. City of East Grand Forks (Minn. 1912)
Hansen v. Town of Verdi (Minn. 1901)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

START, O. J.

This is an action for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant town and its supervisors from entering upon or interfering with the land described in the complaint. The defense is that the premises were subject to the easement of a highway. The cause was tried by the court without a jury, and judgment on the merits in favor of the defendants was entered, from which the plaintiff appealed.

The sole question on this appeal is whether the evidence justified the finding and conclusion of the trial court to the effect that the locus in quo was a public highway. It must be conceded that the records as to the laying out of the highway did not, standing alone, establish its existence; but we are of the opinion that the evidence taken as a whole was sufficient to sustain a finding to the effect that *540the highway was established by a statutory user. G-. S. 1894, § 1832. Evidence was given on the trial tending to show that in 1881 the then town supervisors attempted to lay out 'the highway in question, but, as suggested, the record of their acts is defective; that, immediately following such attempt, the road was surveyed and opened, and has at all times since been known, and continuously used and traveled, as a public highway, and that public work has been expended thereon when necessary. This evidence was sharply in conflict with that given on behalf of the plaintiff, whose witnesses on the issue materially exceeded in number those of the defendants. The evidence on the part of the defendants was sufficient, if satisfactory to the trial court, to establish a public highway by a statutory user. The credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence were matters for the trial court, and its decision is sustained by the evidence.

Judgment affirmed.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.