Chicago & S. L. Ry. Co. v. Mines
| Decision Date | 07 June 1906 |
| Citation | 77 N.E. 898,221 Ill. 448 |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
| Parties | CHICAGO & S. L. RY. CO. v. MINES et al. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Lake County Court; De Witt C. Jones, Judge.
Condemnation proceedings by the Chicago & State Line Railway Company against James Mines and others. From the judgment, the petitioner appeals. Reversed.
S. A. Lynde and Barton Cornean, for appellant.
Cooke, Pope & Pope, for appellees James and Anna Mines.
A. K. Stearns, E. J. Heydecker, and Elbridge Hanecy, for appellees Young, McKeown and Dady.
This was a proceeding begun in the county court of Lake county by appellant to condemn a right of way for its road across five tracts of land in Lake county, and across a private way upon a sixth tract. From the judgment entered in that court this appeal is prosecuted.
These tracts all lie north of the city of Lake Forest, which is on the shore of Lake Michigan, about 28 miles north of the city of Chicago, and are crossed by appellant's line in a northerly and southerly direction; the road running slightly west of north as it progresses northward. Proceeding along the right of way in a northerly direction, the tracts involved are reached in the following order, giving to each the name by which it is known in this litigation: The Mines tract, the south Dady tract, the Young tract, the McKeown tract and the north Dady tract, except that the Tiernan and Frank interest, being the private way herein-above mentioned, is south of the McKeown land. Each tract is owned by different of the appellees, except that both Dady tracts are owned by Robert Dady.
The principal street, or one of the principal streets, of Lake Forest, and the one upon which the finest residences in that city are located, is Deerpath avenue, running east and west, and, continuing westward, this avenue passes just north of the grounds of the Onwentsia Club, which contain 280 acres, and are used for golf, polo, tennis, and other outdoor sports. Many of the members of this club are men of great wealth, and they and others in like financial circumstances have established beautiful and expensive country homes about the club grounds, and in and in the vicinity of the city of Lake Forest. This has greatly enhanced the value of farm lands in that neighborhood which build homes of this character, and which are within the zone where such residences are now being constructed or are apt to be are adapted to the use of people desiring to established in the near future. Whether or not each of the first five tracts above mentioned was so located as to be within this zone, and whether each was adapted to this purpose, were the principal causes of a wide difference between the estimates of damages made by those who testified for petitioner on the one hand, and those who testified for respondents on the other.
The village of Lake Bluff lies on the lake shore, a few miles north of Lake Forest, and a few miles farther north, on the same shore, is the village of North Chicago. The five tracts first above mentioned are distant from the lake shore from one to two miles. The greatest extent of each of these tracts if from east to west, and all are now used for ordinary agricultural purposes.
The Mines tract contains 132.62 acres. It lies just north of the corporate limits of the city of Lake Forest and is partly within the village of Lake Bluff. The land farthest north from Lake Forest, which up to this time has been purchased and utilized for a country home, adjoins this tract on the south. From Deerpath avenue to the south line of this land is a distance of 1 1/2 miles. Appellant's right of way crosses the western portion and takes 4.39 acres, leaving 13.6 acres on the west and 113.63 acres on the east. The south Dady tract contains 70 acres. It is 2 1/2 miles north of Deerpath avenue. The right of way crosses near the west end, taking 6.25 acres, and leaving 7.81 acres on the west and 55.94 acres on the east. The Young tract adjoins the south Dady tract on the north and contains 61.03 acres. The right of way crosses it near the west end, taking 3.13 acres, and leaving 10.23 acres on the west and 47.67 acres on the east. The McKeown tract lies 1 1/2 miles west of the south portion of the village of North Chicago and about five miles north of Deerpath avenue. It contains 368 acres. The line of the road crosses nearest the east end of the tract, taking 9.34 acres, and leaving 103.05 acres on the east and 255.61 acres on the west. The north Dady tract lies immediately north of the McKeown tract. There is a highway between the two, which is an extension, west, of Twenty-Second street in the village of North Chicago. This tract contains 100 acres. The proposed right of way will cross slightly nearer the eastern boundary, taking 3.13 acres, and leaving 39.38 acres to the east and 57.49 acres to the west. The Tiernan and Frank interest is a private right of way across a 40-acre tract a little south of the McKeown tract. This private right of way approaches the appellant's proposed line from the east, crosses the same diagonally, and later crosses back again diagonally to the east. In this proceeding appellant did not seek to condemn the land in this 40-acre tract other than the interest of Tiernan and Frank in this private way in so far as the same will be affected by appellant's road.
The jury heard the evidence, viewed the premises, and returned a verdict, awarding damages, as follows:
After overruling appellant's motion for a new trial the court entered a judgment in accordance with the verdict.
It is assigned as error that the finding of the jury is excessive as to each and every of the appellees. We have carefully examined the evidence as to the five tracts first above mentioned. The damages awarded are within the range of the estimates fixed by the witnesses as to each of those tracts, the jury viewed the lands involved, and we cannot see that passion or prejudice influenced their action. If the record were otherwise free from error we would not be warranted in disturbing the verdict. Sexton v. Union Stock Yards Co., 200 Ill. 244, 65 N. E. 638;...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
City of St. Louis v. Senter Comm. Co.
...v. Svara, 138 La. 899, 63 So. 396; Const. of Louisiana, Art. 167; South Park Commissioners v. Dunlevy, 91 Ill. 52; Chicago & S.L. Ry. Co. v. Mines, 221 Ill. 448, 77 N.E. 898; Sanitary District v. Chapin, 226 Ill. 503, 80 N.E. 1017; Mowry v. Boston, 173 Mass. 425, 53 N.E. 85; State ex rel. O......
-
City of St. Louis v. Senter Com'n Co.
...v. Svara, 138 La. 899, 63 So. 396; Const. of Louisiana, Art. 167; South Park Commissioners v. Dunlevy, 91 Ill. 52; Chicago & S. L. Ry. Co. v. Mines, 221 Ill. 448, 77 N.E. 898; Sanitary District v. Chapin, 226 Ill. 503, 80 1017; Mowry v. Boston, 173 Mass. 425, 53 N.E. 85; State ex rel. Olcot......
-
Coty of Chicago v. Farwell
...525, 10 N. E. 372;Lieberman v. Chicago & South Side Rapid Transit Railroad Co., 141 Ill. 140, 30 N. E. 544;Chicago & State Line Railway Co. v. Mines, 221 Ill. 448, 77 N. E. 898. The rule so established was undisturbed by the decision in Sanitary District v. Chapin, 226 Ill. 499, 80 N. E. 10......
-
Illinois Cities Water Co. v. City of Mt. Vernon
...Side Elevated Railroad Co., 166 Ill. 434, 46 N.E. 974; City of Chicago v. Collin, 302 Ill. 270, 134 N.E. 751; Chicago & State Line Railway Co. v. Mines, 221 Ill. 448, 77 N.E. 898; South Park Commissioners v. Dunlevy, 91 Ill. 49;) and this rule in most instances provides a yardstick by which......