Gurney v. Minneapolis Union Elevator Company

• Decision Date: 02 December 1895
• Docket Number: 9508--(85)
• Citation: 65 N.W. 136,63 Minn. 70
• Parties: ADELINE GURNEY and Another v. MINNEAPOLIS UNION ELEVATOR COMPANY
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

65 N.W. 136

63 Minn. 70

ADELINE GURNEY and Another v. MINNEAPOLIS UNION ELEVATOR COMPANY

Nos. 9508--(85)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

December 2, 1895

Appeal by plaintiffs from an order of the district court for Hennepin county, Belden, J., overruling a demurrer to the answer. Affirmed.

Order affirmed.

Louis A. Reed, for appellants.

Koon Whelan & Bennett and W. E. Dodge, for respondent.

OPINION

START C. J.

Action of ejectment to recover the possession of the premises described in the complaint, and the rents and profits thereof. The answer put in issue the allegations of the complaint, and, for a second or further defense, alleged title in fee to the premises to be in the St. Paul Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, under which it claimed right of possession, as licensee. To this second defense the plaintiffs demurred, and from an order overruling the demurrer they appealed.

The material facts alleged in the answer and admitted by the demurrer are substantially as follows: The land in question is a part of a strip 220 feet in width, adjacent to the right of way of the railway company, and the whole of the strip was acquired by it by the judgment of the district court of the county of Hennepin, in proceedings instituted by it under its charter and the laws of the state, and pursuant to the provisions of Laws 1857 (Ex. Sess.), c. 1, and subsequent acts amendatory thereof. The condemnation proceedings were duly instituted and carried on, and the value of the land taken thereby was assessed and adjudged to be the sum of $ 17,075.82. Henry S. Gurney was at this time the owner of the land taken, and judgment was duly rendered in the condemnation proceedings by the court in his favor, and against the railway company, for such sum for the value of the land, and it was therein further adjudged that, upon the payment of such judgment, an absolute estate in fee simple to the land so taken and condemned should vest in the railway company; the railway company paid the judgment, the amount thereof was accepted by Gurney, and thereupon the company took possession of the land, and has ever since occupied and used it for railroad purposes. The answer further alleges that, after the railway company had so acquired the land, "it licensed and permitted this defendant to erect and construct upon said land, for the uses and purposes of said railway company, and in connection with, and as a necessary adjunct of, the business of said railway company, a public grain elevator and warehouse, with the necessary power house, engines, annexes, railway tracks, and other appurtenances useful and necessary in connection therewith, which grain elevator, warehouse, and appurtenances were erected upon, and occupy, substantially, that portion of said land described in plaintiffs' complaint herein; that defendant entered upon said land, and erected said elevator and warehouse thereon, and still occupies the same, under and by virtue of the license so granted to it, * * * and not otherwise; that, relying upon the title of said St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company in and to said land, and believing the same to be perfect, it in good faith erected said elevator, warehouse, and elevator plant, as aforesaid; that this defendant never had any notice or knowledge, in any manner, of any defect in the title of said railway company to said land, and that the plaintiffs in this action, and those through or from whom they claim, well knew of the occupation being made, and the possession of said land being taken, by said defendant, and that the plaintiffs, nor either of them, nor any of those through or from whom they claim, made any objection thereto, legally or otherwise. That defendant in good faith actually expended and paid, in the construction and erection of said elevator, warehouse, and improvements, as aforesaid, the sum of three hundred twenty-two thousand one hundred ninety-two and 74/100 dollars ($ 322,192.74), and that this defendant is now the owner of said elevator, warehouse, and appurtenances, as aforesaid, and is in possession, occupancy, and operation of the same, as a public grain elevator and warehouse, and has been since the erection thereof."

The law ^[2] under which the condemnation proceedings were had gave the railway company the right to condemn lands for "the purpose of constructing bridges, dams, embankments excavations, spoilbanks, turnouts, engine houses, shops, and other buildings necessary for the constructing, completing, altering, maintaining, preserving and complete operation of said railroads. * * *" It also provided: ^[3] "An absolute estate in fee simple in such lands shall be and...