Varwig v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad
Varwig v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad
Opinion of the Court
The defendant is a railroad company operating a steam railway, and the successor of the Cincinnati and Springfield Railway Company. The plaintiff is the owner of a frontage on the east side of Lebanon street, in the village of Carthage, Hamilton county, between Fifth and Sixth streets, of five hundred eight and eight-tenths feet. He acquired the same by purchase from one John W. Applegate, July, 1876, and then received a deed. Applegate had been the owner from the year 1870 to the above date.
On May 2, 1871, the council of the village of Carthage, duly passed an ordinance (which is still in force), authorizing the Cincinnati and Springfield Railway company “to appropriate and use so much of Lebanon street and its crossings as may be necessary for the construction of the Cincinnati and Springfield Railway through said village of Carthage, and to lay their railway tracks therein,” providing, among other things, “that said Lebanon street be so graded and graveled by said railway company as to permit the portion thereof not occupied by said track to be used as other streets are used to the acceptance of the village council,” and, providing further, that for the privileges g’ranted said railway, the village incurred
On the 20th of June, 1872, said Applegate, by deed of release, in consideration of the station and depot remaining, as per deed of even date, and $1,500, and the advantages the grantor and public would derive from the construction of the railway, granted unto the said The Cincinnati and Springfield Railway “as now surveyed * * * * the right of way for so much of the railway as may pass through the following described piece, parcel or lot of land situated in Millereek township, Hamilton county, state of Ohio,” being the same premises described in the petition, “and I also hereby release to said railway company all claim for damages on account of the construction of said railway over and upon Lebanon street, Carthage, Hamilton county, Ohio, through and along-said premises.” Concurrent therewith, in consideration of $1,500, he conveyed the ground on which the station then and now stands by deed. The deed for the depot grounds was recorded May 14, 1875, but the deed of release was not recorded until May 13, 1887. Lebanon street is sixty-six feet in width. In July and August, 1872, the railway company laid one track over and upon Lebanon street, east of the center line of said street, the center of the track being forty and six-tenths feet from the west line, and twenty-five and four-tenths from the east line, and was the only track laid the full length of the street until after the bringing of this suit, although in May, 1887, without the consent of plaintiff, the defendant laid a track in the street between the one mentioned and plain
In April, 1892, the defendant having made preparations to lay a new and additional track on Lebanon street, between the original track and the premises of plaintiff, commencing at the south end of the track laid in 1887, and extending south on and over Lebanon street the full length in front of plaintiff’s premises, this action was commenced to enjoin the laying of the same for the reasons stated in the petition; a restraining order was refused by the common pleas court and by the circuit court on appeal. The defendant then laid the new and additional track, the east rail of which was six and one-half feet from the curb line, and the overhanging cars extending within four feet of the east curb line of the street. The width of the sidewalk had been reduced from thirteen to eight feet. The company has ever since and does now use. and maintain the new track as a part of its railway, and one of the main tracks thereof. Said track was laid without the consent and against the protest of plaintiff, and defendant has not in any way compensated plaintiff for the laying of the same, the interference with the use of the street and with ingress and egress to and from his premises, and the other incidental damages sntfered by plaintiff by the laying of the track. •
For the defendant it is contended that the ordinance gave full right to go upon the street and lay all necessary tracks for its road; that this track is necessary, and that the release by Applegate bars any claim by plaintiff both as to.damages and to injunction.
Respecting the rights in a street, of the municipality and the owner of lands abutting, there has been no modification, so far as we are aware, of the plain principle announced in Crawford v. Delaware Ohio St., 459, and followed in numberless cases since. In substance it is that the acquisition by a municipality, of land for a street, involves the right to put and maintain the street in suitable condition to answer all purposes of the acquisition, to which public right all private rights of lot owners are necessarily subordinated, while there remains in the owner of abutting land, inhering in the land and attaching to it, a private right in the street in the nature of an incorporeal hereditament, as much property as the land itself. The decisions referred to illustrate two ideas respecting the ownership of the street: the right of the public at large, as represented by the municipality, and the right of the owner of abutting lands. Whether the title of the municipality is acquired by grant, by common law dedication, or
Nor is it necessary to discuss the effect of the release as between Applegate and the company unless it shall be found that the plaintiff is bound by its provisions notwithstanding it was not recorded until after he purchased and took possession of the land. The answer to this question depends upon whether or not, within the meaning of our
The gist of this proposition is that the plaintiff although a purchaser for value, was not a purchaser in good faith within the meaning of the, statute. The statute in force at the time of plaintiff’s purchase, (1 S. & C., 467), provides : “That all other deeds and instruments of writing, for the conveyance or incumbrance of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, executed agreeably to the foregoing provisions, shall be so recorded within six months from the date thereof; and if
Plaintiff concedes that he was chargeable with knowledge of the railroad as it was built at the time of his purchase, and of the actual use then being made of the street by the company. And this is carrying the doctrine of presumption far enough. In no aspect of the case could he be bound to assume that the company had acquired the right to lay additional tracks. Had the company placed its release on record at the proper time, that, under the statute, would have been notice; having chosen to keep it off the record for more than six months and until after its grantor sold to a bona fide purchaser, the company cannot now be heard to assert that the title of that purchaser is impaired by its unrecorded release. The statute but adopts the principle of equity which holds that he, in consequence of whose negligence a fraud has been committed, shall sustain any resulting loss, and the rule is just, wise and salutary.
Upon the admitted facts the plaintiff was entitled to an injunction preventing the laying of the additional track, and is now, as matter of strict right, entitled to a mandatory injunction. However, in consideration of the fact that the courts below refused injunction, and that the track in controversy was not put down until after decision by the circuit court in favor of the company, and of the further fact that the traveling public would be more or less inconvenienced by a removal of the additional track, a reasonable time, to be specified in the journal entry, will be given the company to acquire from the plaintiff the right to maintain its track by a proceeding to appropriate, or by other proper means.
Judgment reversed and judgment for plaintiff in error.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Varwig v. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Co.
- Status
- Published