Brewer v. City of Pine Bluff
| Decision Date | 12 November 1906 |
| Citation | 97 S.W. 1034 |
| Parties | BREWER v. CITY OF PINE BLUFF et al. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Jefferson Chancery Court; Jno. M. Elliott, Chancellor.
Action by W. F. Brewer against the city of Pine Bluff and others. From a decree, dismissing the complaint for want of equity, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
The following is a copy of the plat referred to in opinion.
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINING TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
Taylor & Jones, for appellant. W. F. Coleman, for appellees.
This is an action by W. F. Brewer to enjoin the city of Pine Bluff, the mayor, and chief of police of that city from entering upon and removing a fence across a strip of ground claimed by Brewer as his property, but which the city alleges is a public street.
The facts briefly stated are that one Morris who owned this land as a part of a larger tract in 1884 caused the tract to be laid off into lots and streets as an addition to the city of Pine Bluff, and recorded the plat of the same. This particular piece of land is shown on this recorded plat as a street, a more definite idea of which can be obtained by reference to the copy of the plat shown above. After Morris had laid off the land into lots and streets he sold to certain parties lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and after that in 1886 he sold to one Carroll three other lots describing them as "lots 11, 12, and Lake as designated in what is known as `Morris' Addition to the City of Pine Bluff'" and referring to the plat that had been recorded. By the same deed he conveyed to Carroll a tract of land described in the deed as follows: that "strip or part of said addition beginning at the N. E. corner of lot 7 thence running east 30 feet, thence south to S. E. corner of said addition, thence west 30 feet, thence north to the point of beginning." This last-described tract includes the strip of land in controversy. After Carroll purchased this strip he placed a fence across the road, and this remained there for some three or four years, but was torn down about 1890 and from that time until 1903 the way was used by people passing along the street on foot and occasionally by persons on horseback. The lake or drain prevented passage across it by wheeled vehicles, and the street was not used in that way except to carry wood, coal or other household necessaries to the houses of the few persons who lived on or near this strip of land. The city authorities exercised some supervision over this land, and on two occasions did some small amount of work on it. On another occasion the sanitary officer of the city interfered and forbade people from depositing empty cans and refuse of that kind there on the ground that it was a public street.
Carroll conveyed this land to his wife and she in 1903 conveyed it to Brewer who took possession and inclosed it. After Brewer purchased it he had it assessed and paid taxes on it, but it is not shown that any taxes were paid on it from the time the plat was made by Morris in 1884 up to 1903 when Brewer took possession. The city council after Brewer took possession passed a resolution, condemning his fence across the strip a nuisance, and ordered him to remove it, and notified him that upon his failure to do so it would be removed by agents of the city. Brewer thereupon brought this action in equity to enjoin the city and its officers from interfering with his possession of this property. On the final hearing the chancellor held that the strip of land was a public street, and dismissed the complaint for want of equity. It is, as before stated, an undisputed fact that Morris, the original owner of this strip of ground, included it with other land owned by him in an addition to the city of Pine Bluff which he laid off and platted in 1884 and which plat he recorded. This strip of land was shown on this plat as a street. Its dimensions, 30 feet wide and several hundred feet long, indicate clearly that it was intended for a...
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