Southern Railway Co. v. Fitzpatrick
Southern Railway Co. v. Fitzpatrick
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
In the year 1860 the predecessor in title of the Southern Railway Company acquired title by condemnation to a strip of land through the lands of James M. Dillard for the purpose of constructing a steam railroad, and subsequently constructed said railroad thereon. Afterwards Dillard sold to the predecessor in title of the defendant in error a lot
The gravamen of the plaintiff’s complaint — that is,, the injury specially and particularly complained of — is the damage resulting from raising the grade of the tracks some sixteen or eighteen feet, resulting in the discharge of great quantities of smoke, cinders, dust and dirt upon the plaintiff’s premises, but the notice also clearly and distinctly charges that “great quantities of water have run down from the sides of said fill in and upon the property of the plaintiff,’’ causing great damage thereto. Both sides took testimony on the latter subject, and the testimony for the plaintiff shows that the damage resulting therefrom was of the most serious nature. This water, in part, was collected in and conducted through a drain pipe placed on the embankment by the defendant, and discharged on the land of. the plaintiff. In speaking of the damage done by the water, the plaintiff’s husband testified, that “they have got a six or eight inch pipe to draw rainwater for hundreds of yards,” which is discharged upon the plaintiff’s yard and garden, and which has cut great ditches through the garden and practically destroyed it. The plaintiff herself testified: “It is like a river when it comes a hard rain. It comes down my front steps and the walk is left covered with mud and the steps are now covered with mud and grass growing on them, and we couldn’t keep it off, and could look behind it and see what gullies had washed, and it comes down in the garden and washes the dirt off the vegetables that grow under the ground and the vines * * *” It also appears
The judgment of the trial court will be reversed, the verdict of the jury set aside, and the case remanded to the circuit court for a new trial to be had in conformity to the views hereinbefore expressed.
Reversed.
Reference
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- Southern Railway Company v. Fitzpatrick
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- 1. Waters 'and Watercourses. — Flooding Lamd — Railroad Embankment. — A railroad company, in double tracking its road, raised its grade 16 or 18 feet, causing great quantities of water to run down from the sides of the fill upon the property, of an adjoining landowner, the water, in part, being conducted through a drain pipe placed on the embankment and discharged on the land of the landowner. . Held: That the landowner was entitled to recover for the damages done to her property by collecting and discharging the water thereon. 2. Eminent Domain. — Damaging Property — Smoke and Cinders.— The casting of great quantities of smoke, cinders, dust, and dirt by a railroad company upon the store and dwelling of an adjoining owner of land is a'damage, within the meaning of the Constitution of 1902, which forbids the taking or damaging of private property for a public use without making just compensation therefor. 3. Eminent Domain. — Damaging Property — Smoke and Cinders• — ■ Case at Bar. — A railroad company by raising the grade of its tracks discharged great quantities of smoke, cinders, etc., upon the property of an adjoining landowner. At the time the tracks were raised additional land was condemned by the company alongside its original right of way, and upon this additional strip it placed one of its main line tracks and sidings. Held:- That there could be no recovery by the adjoining landowner for the additional amount of smoke and cinders discharged from the original iine, but that for smoke and cinders discharged from the new location there could be a recovery by the landowner. 4. Eminent Domain. — Damaging Property — Smoke and Gindeps— Case at Bar. — Where a railroad company in double tracking its line raised its track and condemned an additional strip of land upon which it placed one of its main lines and sidings, an adjoining landowner is entitled to damages for smoke, cinders, and dirt from engines and trains operating on the tracks on the new location, although that location was further from the plaintiff’s property than the old,- and the damage from the new location was less than that from the old. There was a new location and a new construction thereon, and the company had no right to impose any damage from the new location. 5. Eminent Domain. — Damaging Property — Smoke and Cinders— Joint Tort — Additional Servitude — Case at Bar. — In the case of a joint tort by two or more, each one is guilty of some part of the tort, and the law will not attempt to apportion it, and so each is held liable for the whole. In the case of an additional servitude, the addition is on the same land as the original. But in the instant case there was a new damage from a new location of some of its tracks by the railroad company, and also an additional damage from the old location, both done by the railroad. This was neither a, joint tort nor an additional servitude, and the damage may be apportioned between the new location and the old. 6. Eminent Domain. — Povoer of Legislature- — Constitutional Restriction. — The power of eminent domain and the manner of its exercise resides in the legislature, except so far as it may be restrained by the Constitution. Since the adoption of the Constitution of 1902, providing that the legislature shall not enact any law whereby private property is taken without just compensation, the legislature has not enacted and cannot enact any law in violation of that constitutional provision. It is immaterial whether a railroad company acts in its public or private capacity. In neither aspect can it take or damage private property for its use without making just compensation therefor. 7. Eminent Domain. — Person Not a Party to the Proceeding— Right of Action. — If the owner of private property, which is damaged, but not taken, is not a party to the proceeding to condemn the property of another, and his rights have not been passed upon, he may maintain an action at law to recover just compensation. The right to recover such compensation is not restricted to the proceeding in which the right of eminent domain is exercised. 8. Limitation op Actions. — Railroads—Cinders and Smoke. — Damage to an adjoining landowner caused by cinders and smoke from a railroad track cast upon his land is permanent and continuous, and entire damages are recoverable in a single action, and the limitation in such case is five years under Code of 1919, section 5818. 9. Eminent Domain. — Damages—Evidence.—In an action by an adjoining landowner for damages occasioned by the raising of the roadbed of a railroad, evidence as to the difference' be- ’ tween the market value of plaintiff’s property before and after the erection of the fill was inadmissible, where the diminution in market value resulted from several causes, for one of which the railroad was not answerable in damages. 10. Eminent Domain. — Damages—Evidence.—In an action by an adjoining landowner for damages occasioned by the raising of the roadbed of a railroad, evidence of the damage to be apprehended from trains running off the embankment, and injuring plaintiff’s property and endangering the lives of the occupants of the buildings thereon, is not admissible. Such damage, if not purely speculative, was covered by the original condemnation of the railroad’s right of way.