Ellis v. N. Pac. R. Co.

Citation77 Wis. 114,45 N.W. 811
PartiesELLIS v. NORTHERN PAC. R. CO. ET AL.
Decision Date20 May 1890
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Wisconsin

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from circuit court, Douglas county; R. D. MARSHALL, Judge.Catlin & Butler, ( James McNaught and I. C. Sloan, of counsel,) for appellants.

D. E. Roberts, for respondent.

COLE, C. J.

This is an action to quiet title to certain lots of land described in the complaint. The plaintiff alleges that he is the owner and in the actual possession of the lands, deriving his title from the county of Douglas, under certain deeds. He sets out, not only his own chain of title, but also the title of the different defendants to the action. The defendants derive their title from different sources, and their claims are in conflict, though they are all interested in the subject-matter of the litigation adversely to the plaintiff. The defendant Bradford appeared and answered: The defendant Sage made a general appearance for himself, and the railroad corporation filed a demurrer to the complaint, on the ground of misjoinder of causes of action, and also upon the further ground that the complaint does not state a cause of action. The demurrer was overruled by the circuit court, and from the order so overruling the demurrer this appeal is taken.

The first question to be considered is as to the multifariousness of the complaint. It is insisted that the complaint unites perfectly independent and distinct causes of action, which cannot be joined. To this objection the learned circuit judge gives a complete and satisfactory answer in his opinion filed in the case. He says, in substance, that in cases of this character the object sought is to bring all parties before the court who are interested in the subject-matter of the action adversely to the plaintiff, to the end that all interests may be determined and all parties bound by a single decree; and that a court of equity in such cases has power to determine the rights of all the parties, including the conflicting rights of the defendants as between each other. This, we think, is a correct view of the law upon this subject. All the defendants, though their respective claims spring from different sources, have a common interest in the point in litigation, and ought to be joined in order to settle the plaintiff's title. The fact that the railroad company claims all the lands, and the other defendants claim separate parcels, does not render the joinder of all as defendants improper, nor make the complaint multifarious. This is the fair result of the decisions in Winslow v. Dousman, 18 Wis. 457;Blake v. Von Tilborg, 21 Wis. 672;Hamlin v. Wright, 23 Wis. 492; Bassett v. Warner, Id. 673; Leinenkugel v. Kehl, 73 Wis. 238, 40 N. W. Rep. 683. “A complaint does not improperly unite several causes of action, which relate to matters of the same nature, all connected with each other, and in which all the defendants are more or less interested or concerned, though their rights in respect to the general subject of the action may be different, and some may be directly interested only in a part of the general claim.” Blake v. Von Tilborg, supra. We do not think the complaint is open to the objection of being multifarious.

The other ground of objection raises the question as to the validity of the company's deed from the county of Douglas. It appears that the county offered and agreed to convey to the railroad company all lots and lands belonging to it which had been acquired by deed, and to which the county had held undisputed title for two years, upon condition that the company, by the 1st day of January, 1882, would construct, complete, and equip a railroad from the Northern Pacific Junction, entering this state, and running therein down the St. Louis and Nemadji rivers to the bay of Superior, at or near the mouth of the Nemadji river, thence to Connor's Point, along or near the westerly side of said bay, with a depot and convenient connections with docks and piers. The lands were conveyed by the county in pursuance of this agreement, and it is said that the transaction was, in effect, but a donation by the county of its property to the company, to secure the building of the branch of the railroad designated; and the question is, could the county board of supervisors of the county dispose of the property of the county in this way by donating it to the railroad company? There is no pretense that it was in the nature of a subscription to the stock of the company. In the case of Whiting...

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21 cases
  • Chi., St. P., M. & O. Ry. Co. v. Douglas Cnty.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Wisconsin
    • January 8, 1908
    ...557, 46 N. W. 819;Woodward v. Hanchett, 52 Wis. 482, 9 N. W. 468;Leinenkugel v. Kehl, 73 Wis. 238, 40 N. W. 683;Ellis v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 77 Wis. 114, 45 N. W. 811;Grady v. Maloso, 92 Wis. 666, 66 N. W. 808;Draper v. Brown, 115 Wis. 361, 91 N. W. 1001;Douglas Co. v. Walbridge, 38 Wis.......
  • Lewis v. Leon County
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Florida
    • January 23, 1926
    ...... question, the interveners appeal. . . Affirmed. . . Whitfield. and Ellis, JJ., dissenting. . . Syllabus. by the Court. . . SYLLABUS. . . County. may authorize issuance of bonds ...Nuveen v. Greer, 88 Fla. 249, 102 So. 739, text 747, 37 A. L. R. 1298; 12 C.J. 1091; 15 C.J. 627; Ellis v. Northern Pac. R. Co., 77 Wis. 114, 45 N.W. 811),. [107 So. 168] . and, as, in view of the organic provision limiting county. taxation to county purposes, ......
  • Harrington v. Atteberry
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of New Mexico
    • July 15, 1915
    ...Colo. 192; Taylor v. Ross County Comr's, 23 Ohio St. 22; Wilkesbarre City Hospital v. County of Luzerne, 84 Pa. 55; Ellis v. N. R. R. Co., 77 Wis. 114, 45 N.W. 811; Johns v. Wadsworth, 80 Wash. 352, 141 P. 892. In Colorado Central R. Co. v. Lea et al., supra, the board of county commissione......
  • Kruezinski v. Neuendorf
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Wisconsin
    • April 12, 1898
    ...is no misjoinder of causes of action. Bassett v. Warner, 23 Wis. 673;Watson v. Railway Co., 57 Wis. 339, 15 N. W. 468,Ellis v. Railroad Co., 77 Wis. 114, 45 N. W. 811. 3. Another ground of demurrer is that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. This c......
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