Dimmick v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad
Dimmick v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs’ bill set forth the folloAving facts. The plaintiffs are owners of a tract of land which was crossed by the surveyed line of the defendant company’s railroad. A right of way over the tract was obtained by proceedings under the general railroad law of 1849, which were had in 1850. The company did not construct a farm crossing over the track for the owners of the land. In 186.1, the parties made a settlement of the claim of the owners, adjusting the damages accrued to that date at $170, which were paid, and the railroad company agreed to put in the crossing. This has not been done. The bill was filed at the November term, 1896, seeking the specific execution of the agreement made in 1861. The prayers for relief are for a mandatory order directing the defendant to build the crossing, and for an ascertainment of the damages sustained by the plaintiffs for the want of it for the last thirty-five years.
We see no reason upon the facts before us for doubting that their standing in a court of equity has not been improved by a delay of thirty-five years in asserting the remedy provided by statute for them. The assignments of error are not sustained and the decree is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James O. Dimmick, Silas B. Robinson, B. S. Robinson and Cora Frear v. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Railroad — Farm crossing — Act of February 19, 1849, sec. 12 — Equity. Where a railroad company settles with a landowner for its right of way by paying him damages, and further agrees to put down a farm crossing, the remedy of the landowner against the railroad company to compel the latter to put down the farm crossing in accordance with its agreement is not obtained by bill in equity, but by proceedings under the general railroad law of February 19, 1849, sec. 12, F. L. 84.