Baltimore Co v. Hopkins

• Decision Date: 01 April 1889
• Citation: 32 L.Ed. 908,9 S.Ct. 503,130 U.S. 210
• Parties: BALTIMORE & P. R. CO. v. HOPKINS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

130 U.S. 210

9 S.Ct. 503

32 L.Ed. 908

BALTIMORE & P. R. CO. v. HOPKINS.

April 1, 1889.

This was an action on the case brought by Hopkins in the supreme court of the District of Columbia against the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Company for injuries alleged by him to have resulted from a nuisance maintained by the railroad company on the public street in front of his door, from the 5th day of October, 1880, to the 5th day of October, 1883, the date of the commencement of the suit, consisting in suffering great numbers of freight cars to remain on said street for an unreasonable length of time; in shifting cars back and forth in an unreasonable manner, with engines making disturbing noises, and giving out volumes of smoke, cinders, etc., the cars being often filthy, and emitting offensive odors, etc. The freight station of the company was situated in square 386, at the original terminus of the road between Ninth and Tenth streets, on Maryland avenue. Hopkins' dwelling-house was in the square opposite on the north side of Maryland avenue, between the same lateral streets. On the trial of the cause the plaintiff gave evidence tending to prove the truth of the allegations in his declaration, and the defendant gave evidence in its own defense, and, among other things, to establish that the authorities of the District of Columbia in 1874 inclosed the tracks of the railroad with a line of stone curbing on each side about six inches higher than the adjacent surface of the streets, and that the tracks were elevated so as to be flush with this curbing; that the point between Ninth and Tenth streets was regarded and treated as the termini of two lines of railroad, one coming from Virginia, and the other from Maryland, and that the freight trains habitually stopped there as at the end of the route, to change engines, etc.; and it was claimed on behalf of defendant that it possessed and exercised authority by virtue of grants from the United States to do all that it did do in the premises, the validity of which authority, it is now insisted, was denied by the court.

Among other instructions given by the court, at plaintiff's request, was the following. '(8) The defendant company, under its charter, had no right to convert Maryland avenue, between Ninth and Tenth streets, into a freight-yard, by using the same for loading or unloading its cars, or to incumber said place with cars by leaving them standing there an unreasonable time when not in use, or to use said part of the avenue for making up freight trains or shifting the same, except so far as may be reasonably necessary for the purpose of carefully carrying cars out of said station over the different tracks for the purpose of making up freight trains; and, if the jury shall find from the evidence that the defendant company did use said parts of Maryland avenue between the times named in the declaration for such loading or unloading of cars, or incumbered the same by leaving the cars standing there an unreasonable time when not in use, and used the same for making up and shifting its freight trains, (except in so far as was reasonably necessary in connection with the careful carrying of such cars into the freight station, or the careful carrying of such cars out of the station over the different tracks for the purpose of making up freight trains;) and shall further find that such acts on the part of the defendant interfered with the comfortable enjoyment by the plaintiff of his dwelling-house, No. 941 Maryland avenue,—then the plaintiff is entitled to recover.' And by instruction 7 the jury were told that 'the plaintiff is not entitled to recover for any annoyances, discomforts, or inconveniences to himself or his family, or for any injury to the use and enjoyment of said dwelling-house, which resulted from such uses of Maryland avenue by the defendant as were reasonably incident to the careful conduct of its through business, and to the maintenance and careful use of its freight depot or station, abutting on the south side of said avenue between said Ninth and Tenth streets south-west.'

And the court gave, on defendant's behalf, these instructions: '(1) The defendant is entitled to make such careful use of the tracks between Ninth and Tenth streets, on Maryland avenue, as may be necessary for the lawful use and enjoyment of its freight depot or station opposite the plaintiff's premises, and on square 386. (2) The plaintiff is not entitled to recover anything in this case for noise, smoke, odors, or any other inconveniences suffered by him or his family by reason of the lawful use by the defendant of the freight station or the tracks in the street in front of the plaintiff's property; and the burden of proof is upon the plaintiff to point out to the jury by satisfactory testimony the acts of the defendant which were unlawful and unauthorized, if any such there were. (3) The plaintiff, under his declaration and upon the evidence, cannot recover anything under or upon the third and fourth counts of his declaration. (5) If the jury shall find from the evidence that the board of public works or the commissioners of the District of Columbia erected, or caused to be erected, a stone curb higher than the surface of the adjacent parts of Maryland avenue on each side of the railroad tracks, in front of the plaintiff's premises, on said Maryland avenue, between Ninth and Tenth streets, and raised the grade of the street between said curb line, then the defendant is not liable to the plaintiff for any inconvenience or obstruction caused by such curb lines. (6) The board of public works or the commissioners of the District of Columbia were authorized by law to erect the curb lines along the outside of the tracks of the defendant, and to raise the grade between them, and the said board and their successors had and have lawful authority to maintain the same. (10) The plaintiff, under the declaration in this case and upon the evidence, cannot recover for injury or inconvenience caused by any obstruction or obstructions in or upon Maryland avenue without showing special damage to himself. (14) The defendant possesses the lawful right in the conduct of its business to place its trains containing cars loaded with cattle, hogs, or other animals, or vegetables, fruit, fertilizers, or other odoriferous freight, on the tracks in front of the plaintiff's premises for such a reasonable time as may be necessary to enable other trains to pass, and also to enable the defendant to take cars out of and to put cars into such trains; and before any damages can be assessed in favor of the plaintiff, because of the standing of such cars upon the tracks in front of the plaintiff's premises, the plaintiff must show, by satisfactory proof, that such cars on such occasion were kept standing on said tracks for an unreasonable length of time, and that the plaintiff was thereby specially injured. (17) The defendant was authorized and empowered to unload railroad iron upon the surface of the streets in front of the plaintiff's premises for the purpose of repairing its tracks in front of the plaintiff's premises on Maryland avenue between Ninth and Tenth streets. (19) The defendant possessed the lawful right to use the several tracks on Maryland avenue between Ninth and Tenth streets for carefully passing and moving thereon its trains, either loaded or empty, north and south; and for any injury or inconvenience unavoidably caused by such passing and moving of trains the defendant is not liable.' But refused to give, at defendant's request, among others, the following: '(10) The plaintiff is not entitled to recover anything on account of dust or noises caused by the loading and unloading of cars on or within the sixty-foot space between the lateral streets inclosed by the board of public works of the District of Columbia. (11) The space of sixty feet inclosed by the two lines of curb by the board of public works within which are the tracks of the railroad, and between the streets running north and south, were set aside by the proper authorities of the District of Columbia for railroad purposes, and the plaintiff cannot recover under the pleadings in this case for any discomfort to him or his family, or other injury caused by the loading or unloading of cars at that place. (14) The defendant has the legal right to the unlimited use of the tracks in the vicinity of its freight depot, in front of the plaintiff's premises, for the purposes of its freight depot between Ninth and Tenth streets, opposite the plaintiff's premises, provided such tracks are carefully and skillfully used by the defendant.'

The court also instructed the jury upon its own motion: 'Congress allowed the company to run its road into the District, along certain streets and avenues, to a certain point, that is, to Ninth street, where the present station is located. We have supposed that that implied a right to construct a station building, and to construct tracks in the street; but, if the business of the company increase beyond the capacity of that freight-yard to accommodate it, we have thought that that was no reason which would justify the company in occupying the public streets for the purposes of a freight-yard, and that they had no right to stow away or store away their cars and freight in the public streets, nor had they the right to occupy the streets in making up trains to dispatch north and south; but we thought that their duty was to acquire more property, and to enlarge their freight-yard for these purposes. If, in point of fact, without authority of law, they did occupy the streets for these purposes, it was an illegal thing; but, if nobody was hurt by it, it would simply be a public nuisance, which would be the subject of an indictment, and would not give any private person a right of action against the company; but if, in addition to being a public nuisance, it became a grievance to private persons owning property in...