Ex parte Railway Company

• Decision Date: 01 October 1879
• Parties: EX PARTE RAILWAY COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

101 U.S. 711

101 U.S. 711

25 L.Ed. 872

EX PARTE RAILWAY COMPANY.

October Term, 1879

PETITION for mandamus.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

The case was argued by Mr. Roscoe Conkling and Mr. Samuel Shellabarger for the petitioner, and by Mr. Sidney Bartlett and Mr. George O. Shattuck, contra.

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an application, by petition, for a writ of mandamus to the judges of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Colorado, commanding them to proceed and give final decree, in accordance with the opinion and mandate of this court, in the suit of the Canon City and San Juan Railroad Company against the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company. The history of this litigation is set forth in Railway Company v. Alling (99 U. S. 463), to which reference is here made. The present application is supported by an exemplified copy of the proceedings had in the Circuit Court at its May Term, 1879, after the filing therein of the opinion and mandate of this court.

The main contention of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company was that the court below had failed and refused to comply with the mandate of this court; that, upon filing the mandate, that company became entitled absolutely, and beyond the discretion of the Circuit Court, to a decree restoring it, at once and unconditionally, to the possession of the Grand Canon of the Arkansas River; dissolving the injunction granted against it in that suit; adjudging that it had the prior right to occupy and use that canon for the purpose of constructing its railroad therein; and requiring the Canon City and San Juan Railway Company, its officers, agents, servants, and employes, to refrain from interfering with or obstructing the Denver and Rio Grande Company in such occupancy and use of the canon, or in the construction of its railroad in and through the same.

It is essential to a proper understanding of the present application to recall some of the leading facts in this litigation. The controversy between these two companies arose out of their respective claims to occupy and use the Grand or Big Canon of the Arkansas River for railroad purposes. The Circuit Court, upon the original hearing, held that prior right and location to be with the Canon City Company, with liberty, however, to the Denver Company to exhibit its bill in any court of competent jurisdiction to compel the former company to so locate and construct its road as to permit to convenient and proper location by the Denver Company of its road, or, if two roads could not be conveniently onstructed and operated in the canon, to occupy the track and roadway of the Canon City Company. While the causes were under submission in this court at its last term, it was represented that, after the rendition of the decree in favor of the Canon City Company, the parties and corporations concerned had entered into binding agreements, whereby the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company, in its own right, and in connection with the Pueblo and Arkansas Valley Railroad Company (the successor of the Canon City Company), had become and was equitably the owner of all the property, rights, and interests of the Denver Company, and entitled to the control of its affairs, business, and suits of every kind. Upon that ground, the Pueblo Company moved that the submission be set aside, and the appeals dismissed, while the Atchison Company moved that it have permission to intervene in this court, and, by its solicitor, consent to such dismissal.

These motions were denied, for the reasons given in the former opinion. It was there said, that if the directors of the Denver Company, in prosecuting the appeals to final judgment, violated any trust committed to their hands, or any agreement which was binding upon the corporation and the minority stockholders, remedy might be sought 'in some court of original jurisdiction, into which, upon proper pleadings, all persons interested may be summoned.' The court also said: 'If, since those decrees were entered, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company, or the Pueblo and Arkansas Valley Railroad Company have, by valid contracts, acquired a controlling interest in the property, rights, and affairs of the Denver Company, that interest can be asserted by appropriate proceedings, and will not be affected by any thing we may determine upon the issues presented by these appeals.'

Upon the merits of the cases it was held——

That the intention of Congress by the act of 1872 was to grant to the Denver Company a present beneficial easement in the particular way over which its designated routes lay, capable, however, of enjoyment only when the way granted was actually located, and, in good faith, appropriated for the purposes contemplated by the company's charter and the act of Congress;

That when such location and appropriation were made, the title, which was previously imperfect, acquired precision, and by relation took effect as of the date of the grant;

That the Denver Company, by its occupancy of the Grand Canon on 19th April, 1878, for the purpose of constructing its road through that defile, came then, if not before, into the enjoyment of the present beneficial easement conferred by the act of Congress of June 8, 1872, and was entitled to have secured, against all intruders whatever, the privileges or advantages which belonged to that position That such right was, however, subject to the provisions of the act of March 3, 1875, whereby it was declared, in the interest of the public, that any other railroad company, duly organized, might use and occupy the canon for the purposes of its road, in common with the road first located.

The opinion concluded as follows:——

'It results from what we have said, that the court below erred in enjoining the Denver Company from proceeding with the construction of its road in the Grand Canon. The decree, as entered, can only be sustained upon the assumption that the Canon City Company had by prior occupancy acquired a right superior to any which the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company had to use the canon for the purpose of constructing its road. But that assumption, we have seen, is not sustained by the evidence, and is inconsistent with the rights given by the acts of Congress to the Denver Company. The Denver Company should have been allowed to proceed with the construction of its road unobstructed by the other company. Where the Grand Canon is broad enough to enable both companies to proceed without interference with each other in the construct on of their respective roads, they should be allowed to do so. But in the narrow portions of the defile, where this course is impracticable, the court, by proper orders, should recognize the prior right of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company to construct its road. Further, if in any portion of the Grand Canon it is impracticable or impossible to lay down more than one road-bed and track, the court, while recognizing the prior right of the Denver Company to construct and operate that tract for its own business, should, by proper orders, and upon such terms as may be just and equitable, establish and secure the right of the Canon City Company, conferred by the act of March 3, 1875, to use the same roadbed and track, after completion, in common with the Denver Company.

'The decrees in these causes are, therefore, reversed, with directions to set aside the order granting an injunction against the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company, and also the order dissolving the injunction granted in its favor, and dismissing its bill. By proper orders, entered in each suit, the court below will recognize the prior right of that company to occupy and use the Grand Canon for the purpose of constructing its road therein, and will enjoin the Canon City and San Juan Railway Company, its officers, agents, servants, and employes, from interfering with or obstructing that company in such occupancy, use, and construction. It may be that, during the pendency of these causes in the court below, or since the rendition of the decrees appealed from, the Canon City and San Juan Railway Company has, under the authority of the Circuit Court, constructed its road-bed and track in the Grand Canon, or in some portion thereof. In that event, the cost thus incurred in those portions of the canon which admit of only one road-bed and track for railroad purposes, may be ascertained and provided for in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as the equities of the parties may require.

'The court will make such further orders as may be necessary to give effect to this opinion.'

It appears from the transcript of the proceedings had in the court below, after the return of the causes, that the Pueblo and Arkansas Valley Railroad Company was permitted, against the objection of the Denver Company, to file supplemental bills, showing that it was the successor of the Canon City Company, and setting out in detail, among other things, the same facts substantially that were relied upon in this court in support of the motions made at the last term to set aside the submission and dismiss the appeals. The prayer of the first supplemental bill was that those facts might be considered, and that upon the hearing the original decrees might be permitted to stand without modification or...