Cent. R.R. & Banking Co v. Murray

• Decision Date: 17 September 1894
• Citation: 20 S.E. 129,93 Ga. 256
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: CENTRAL RAILROAD & BANKING CO. v. MURRAY.

20 S.E. 129

93 Ga. 256

CENTRAL RAILROAD & BANKING CO.

v.MURRAY.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Sept. 17, 1894.

Action against Railroad Company — Setting Fire to Growing Timber — Measure of Damages—Destruction or Fences.

1. Where growing timber, much of it young and immature, is destroyed by fire as a consequence of a negligent tort, and there is no depreciation in the market value of the land by reason of the destruction of the timber, the measure of damages is the value of the timber destroyed in its then state as attached to the land on which it grew, which value is to be ascertained by evidence as to what the owner of the premises could, under all the circumstances, have realized from the timber destroyed, by appropriating it to use himself, to the extent of any demand for it made by his own wants at and about the time of the fire, and by selling it to others to the extent of any demand for it which then existed; the value to be reckoned at the worth of the timber as it stood upon the land when it was destroyed, not computing anything additional thereto for the increase which would have resulted from severing it from the realty, removing it to the place of use or sale, and putting it in condition to be used or sold.

2. Timber injured by the fire, but not destroyed, is to be dealt with on the same basis, to the extent of the difference between its value as it was before the fire and as the fire left it.

3. For leaves and trash which the fire consumed there could be a recovery to the extent that the owner could have used or disposed of the same in supplying any demand then existing or near at hand, the measure being the value of the raw material as it lay on the ground, not including in the quantity to be paid for any of the material which could not have been used or sold to supply the demand then existing, or which arose soon thereafter. For material which, had it not been destroyed, would have been mere waste in the woods, there can be no recovery.

4. For fencing injured or destroyed the recovery should be measured by the cost of restoring it and making its condition as good as that in which it was when injured or destroyed.

5. The declaration was sufficient, and there was no error in overruling the demurrer thereto.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from superior court, Houston county; A. L. Miller, Judge.

Action by J. J. Murray against the Central Railroad & Banking Company for damages from a fire caused by an engine. Judgment was rendered for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed. The following is the official report: Murray sued the railroad company for damages sustained by the setting out of fire from its locomotives. He obtained a verdict, and a new trial was granted, which judgment...