Ellis v. Houston & T. C. Ry. Co.
Ellis v. Houston & T. C. Ry. Co.
Opinion of the Court
The Houston & Texas Central Railway Company filed with the county judge of Tarrant county a petition in writing seeking to condemn for the uses of the company a strip of land of 12.48 acres running across a part of a larger tract situated in said county and owned by James M. Ellis, a resident citizen of that county. That petition contained the following allegations:
“That the complainant herein desires to condemn said land and property for the purposes of constructing thereon its railway lines and tracks, depots, both freight and passenger, station buildings, machine shops, repair shops, side tracks, and connecting lines and tracks with other railway tracks, and for switches, turntables, toolhouses, reservoirs, for water supply, water tanks, and for additional terminal facilities of every kind and character, and for other lawful purposes necessary and incident to the building, operating, and maintaining of its said railroad and carrying out the purposes of its said corporation.”
Before the date set for such hearing, J. M. Ellis instituted this suit in the district court of Tarrant county to enjoin the commissioners from proceeding with said hear-; ing to assess damages and also against the railway company to enjoin it from taking any farther steps seeking to condemn said property for the purposes sought. Upon the filing of that petition the district judge ordered the issuance of notices and service thereof upon the commissioners and railway company commanding them to appear before him at a time fixed in the order, then and there to show cause why the temporary writ of injunction prayed for in the petition • should not be issued. Later the petition was heard and considered together with evidence introduced by all the parties, and upon such hearing plaintiff’s application for the writ was refused. From that order Ellis has appealed.
The grounds upon which Ellis based his prayer for relief may be briefly stated as follows:
First. That the county court had not acquired jurisdiction to assess such damages and decree the condemnation proposed in view of the fact that the railway company' and Ellis had not failed to agree upon the damages which might occur by reason of the taking of the strip of land sought to be condemned ; the contention being made that in the absence of such inability of the parties to agree upon the damages the county court could not acquire such jurisdiction, in view of the provisions of article 6506 of our Statutes.
Second. That prior to the filing of said application for condemnation of the property in controversy Ellis had dedicated the strip sought and the land adjacent thereto *174 as a cemetery for use by the public for cemetery purposes and to be known as the South-side' Cemetery; that he had platted said land into burial lots and blocks, streets, and pass-ways and that said plat had been duly filed for record in the deed records of Tarrant county. Plaintiff further alleged that after filing said plat he proceeded to improve said property for cemetery purposes, and that bodies of deceased persons had been interred in some of the lots shown in said plat, one of which bodies was buried on the particular strip of land sought to be condemned in a lot which plaintiff had conveyed by regular deed of conveyance. It was further alleged that to use the strip of land sought to be condemned for the purposes alleged in the petition for condemnation will entirely destroy and render useless all the property so dedicated for cemetery purposes. He further alleged, in substance, that by reason of such prior dedication of the property as a cemetery it was not subject to condemnation, and for that additional reason the county court had no jurisdiction of the proposed condemnation proceedings.
Article 6504 is as follows:
“If any railroad corporation shall at any timé be unable to agree with the owner for the purchase of any real estate, or the material thereon, required for the purposes of its incorporation or the transaction of its business for its depots, station buildings, machine and repair shops, for the construction of reservoirs for the water supply, or for the right of way, or for new right of way for change or relocation of roadbed to shorten the line, or any part thereof or to reduce its grades, or any of them, which is hereby authorized and permitted, or for any other lawful puz-pose connected with or necessary to the building, operating, or running its road, such corporation may acquire such property in the manner provided in this chapter; provided, that the limitation in width prescribed in article 6484, shall not apply to real estate, or any interest therein, required for the purposes herein mentioned, other than right of way, and that real estate, or any interest therein, to be acquired for such other purposes or any of them need not adjoin or 'abut on the right of way; provided, further, that no change of the line through any city or town, or which will result in the abandonment of any station or depot, shall be made, except upon written order of the railroad commission of Texas, authorizing such change; and provided, further, that no railroad corporation shall have the right under this act to condemn any land for the purposes mentioned in this article situated more than two miles from the right of way of such railroad corporation.”
Other articles of chapter 8, title 115, of our Statutes, contain provisions for the assessment by the commissioners of damages caused by the condemnation proposed, .for a return to the county court of a report of such assessment, and articles 6527 to 6530, inclusive, prescribe the proceedings to be followed by the county court for the rendition of a final judgment of condemnation, including the determination of any opposition by the owner of the land to the decision of the commissioners, and article 6527 contains the specific provision that such a controversy “shall be tried and determined as in other civil causes in said court.” By article 6530 it is provided that after the commissioners have assessed the damages, and before the rendition of a final judgment by the county court, the plaintiff in the condemnation suit shall have the right to take possession of the property sought to be condemned by depositing in court the amount of damages assessed by the commissioners and by giving bond in a like amount to secure any additional damages that may be finally adjudged against such plaintiff. Subdivision 3 of that article is as follows:
“Should it be determined on final decision of the case that the right to condemn the property in question does not exist, the plaintiff shall sun*ender possession thereof, if he has taken possession pending litigation, and the court shall so adjudge and order a writ of possession for the property in favor of the defendant, and the court may also inquire what damages, if any, have been suffered by the defendant by reason of the temporary possession of the plaintiff, and order the same paid out of the award or other money deposited; provided, that in any case whore the award paid the defendant or appropriated by him exceeds the value of the property as determined by the final judgment, the court shall adjudge the excess to bo returned to the plaintiff. If the cause should be appealed from the decision of the county court, the appeal shall be governed by the same law as in other cases; except the judgment of the county court shall not be suspended thereby. The rules hereinbefore laid down for governing railroad corporations shall likewise apply to all persons and corporations having the right of eminent domain.”
As noted already the strip in controversy is a part of the land described in the plat of dedication. Appellant contends that the proof shows further and conclusively that there had been no failure, of himself and the railway company to agree on the amount of his damages. He insists that the proof also shows, as alleged in his petition, that, unless restrained from so doing, the railway company will, as authorized by article 6530, take possession of the strip of land desired as soon as the commissioners shall have made the assessment of damages, and will immediately proceed to subject it to the uses desired, and that the work that will be done and the improvements that will be constructed to accomplish such purposes will result in irreparable injury to the plaintiff, the public, and owners of other lots in the tract dedicated for cemetery purposes,, for which adequate compensation cannot be awarded. 1-Ie insists that an injunction will be necessary to prevent such irreparable injury by restraining, in advance, the statutory proceedings which, if followed, will lead to the infliction of such an injury.
Eor the reasons indicated the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
The foregoing is filed as a substitute for our original opinion in the case likewise affirming the judgment of the trial court, but which is withdrawn; the foregoing being filed to meet some criticisms of expressions used in the former opinion which were not necessary to the main conclusion reached and which we have taken this method to eliminate. And the motion for rehearing is overruled.
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