Stickford v. City of St. Louis

• Decision Date: 20 May 1879
• Citation: 7 Mo.App. 217
• Parties: JOHN STICKFORD ET AL., Respondents, v. CITY OF ST. LOUIS, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

7 Mo.App. 217

JOHN STICKFORD ET AL., Respondents,

v.CITY OF ST. LOUIS, Appellant.

St. Louis Court of Appeals, Missouri.

May 20, 1879.

1. The various forms or subjects of inquiry sustained from a single wrongful act do not multiply the causes of action.

2. In an action for damages against a municipal corporation for an injury to property caused by a change of grade of a street, where the plaintiff owns the fee of one lot, and a leasehold with rent of the adjoining lot, he may sue in one count for the damage to both.

3. The charter provision of 1870 that the city shall be liable for damages sustained by the property-owners by reason of any change of the grade of a street, applies to a case where the change does not extend to the whole width of the road-bed, if the alteration is such as to raise or lower the principal current of travel and transportation.

4. The recovery is not confined to such damage as results from some physical injury to the buildings; it is enough that a depreciation in value results from the change of grade.

APPEAL from St. Louis Circuit Court.

Affirmed.

LEVERETT BELL, for appellant: Where separate and distinct causes of action are blended in one count, the plaintiff should be compelled to elect.-- Otis v. Bank, 35 Mo. 128. And the objection may be taken by motion in arrest.-- Hoagland v. Raiload Co., 39 Mo. 457. The buildings were not impaired, and only nominal damages can be recovered.-- Smith v. Washington, 20 How. 135; St. Louis v. Gurno, 12 Mo. 414; Imler v. Spingfield, 55 Mo. 119.

SENECA N. TAYLOR, for respondents: The city is liable for any damage occasioned by a change of grade.-- Schumacher v. St. Louis, 3 Mo. App. 297. But one cause of action was stated.-- Von Fragstein v. Windler, 2 Mo. App. 598.

LEWIS, P. J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiffs are owners of a lot fronting on Fourteenth Street in the city of St. Louis, and also of a leasehold having about sixteen years to run, on a contiguous lot which fronts in like manner. Both lots are improved with permanent buildings which were erected several years before the injurious acts complained of, and in conformity with the existing grade established in 1858. In 1875, the city authorities adopted “An ordinance to approve the plans for bridges over the Union Depot and Pacific Railroad tracks on Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets, and to appropriate money for the construction of such bridges.” In pursuance of this ordinance, a roadway about four feet higher than the established grade was constructed so as to occupy the middle of the street. This left nine feet on either side between the retaining walls of the roadway and the curb of the sidewalk. The sidewalks, each fifteen feet wide, were left undisturbed. The suit is for the injuries resulting to the plaintiff's property, chiefly in the depreciation of values and the lowering of rents. The court, sitting as a jury, found for the plaintiffs, and assessed their damages at $900.

The petition contains but one count. The court refused to require the plaintiffs, upon the defendant's motion, to elect, as between the alleged injury done to the fee-simple lot and that which fell upon the leasehold, upon which they would proceed to trial. There was no error...