City of Omaha v. Williams

• Court: Supreme Court of Nebraska
• Writing for the Court: HARRISON
• Citation: 52 Neb. 40,71 N.W. 970
• Decision Date: 15 June 1897
• Parties: CITY OF OMAHA v. WILLIAMS.

52 Neb. 40
71 N.W. 970

CITY OF OMAHA
v.
WILLIAMS.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

June 15, 1897.

Syllabus by the Court.

A party who purchases a lot which abuts on a street, the grade of which is established, must improve the lot conformably to the established grade, and not with reference to the natural grade, and, if he does the latter, cannot recover for damages to the improvements caused by the street being worked to the established grade.

Error to district court, Douglas county; Blair, Judge.

Proceeding by Mathilda Williams against the city of Omaha to recover damages for a change of street grade. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed.

[71 N.W. 970]

W. J. Connell and E. J. Cornish, for plaintiff in error.

W. S. Strawn, for defendant in error.

HARRISON, J.

The grade line of Decatur street in the city of Omaha, it appears from the record in this case, was established March 5, 1885. On September 18th of the same year the defendant in error, by purchase, became the owner of a lot which fronted on said street, and within a few months thereafter had built houses and placed various other improvements on the lot. During the latter part of the year 1892 the prescribed statutory steps were taken to have the actual work or grading of the street done, and as a result during the summer season of 1893 the street was graded, and from an assessment of the damages to her property defendant in error took an appeal to the district court, wherein she was awarded a judgment, of which the city seeks the reversal in these present error proceedings. The judgment rendered included damages to the improvements on the lot.

It is agreed by counsel that there shall be but one question considered in the examination of this case, viz.: In assessing the defendant in error's damages, was she entitled to recover for improvements or injuries to improvements constructed or placed on the lot after the grade was established, but prior to the time the actual work of grading was done? It is settled that under the provisions of our constitution “the private property of no person shall be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation therefor”; that “a city is liable under the constitution of this state to a lot owner for such damages as he may sustain by filling in the street in front of his lot above the level of the same, when the buildings were erected on the lot before the grade was established.” Harmon v. City of Omaha, 17 Neb. 548, 23 N. W. 503;Hammond...