Edwards v. Missouri, K. & E. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 07 March 1899
• Citation: 50 S.W. 89,148 Mo. 513
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Parties: EDWARDS v. MISSOURI, K. & E. RY. CO.

50 S.W. 89

148 Mo. 513

EDWARDS v. MISSOURI, K. & E. RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

March 7, 1899.

SUPREME COURT — JURISDICTION — TITLE TO REALTY.

A suit to recover the value of lands alleged to have been wrongfully appropriated (the defense being that defendant had title) does not involve title to the realty, so as to give the supreme court jurisdiction under Const. art. 6, § 12, vesting it with appellate jurisdiction of suits involving the title to real property.

Appeal from circuit court, Boone county; John A. Hockaday, Judge.

Action by Presley Edwards against the Missouri, Kansas & Eastern Railway Company. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Transferred to the Kansas City court of appeals.

Plaintiff sues to recover damages on account of the construction of defendant's railroad across his farm. The petition is in five counts: First, for the value of a strip of land 100 feet wide, containing 5.86 acres, alleged to have been wrongfully taken and appropriated as a right of way for defendant's railroad; second, damages occasioned to plaintiff's land not so appropriated, by reason of its being intersected by the railroad; third, for the unskillful location and construction of the road, bridges, etc., causing water to overflow and stand on plaintiff's land and render it unfit for cultivation; fourth and fifth, damages to crops caused by such overflow in 1893 and 1894, respectively. The aggregate amount of damages claimed in the five counts is $1,600. The answer to so much of the petition as is predicated on the unlawful taking and appropriating of the land is to the effect that a former owner of the land, from whom plaintiff purchased, granted defendant's assignor the right of way for the railroad, and the plaintiff purchased with knowledge of the grant. The other matters in defendant's answer are aimed to meet the charges of improper construction and location of the road, etc., which are independent of the question of defendant's right of way. There was a verdict for plaintiff on the first, second, third, and fifth counts, aggregating $985, and for defendant on the fourth count. After motion for new trial, etc., defendant brings the cause here by appeal.

Geo. P. B. Jackson, for appellant. Odon Guitar and W. H. Truitt, Jr., for respondent.

VALLIANT, J. (after stating the facts).

The amount involved is less than $2,500, but the jurisdiction of this court is invoked on the idea that title to real estate is...