John Wheeler v. New York, New Haven Hartford Railroad Company

• Decision Date: 28 May 1900
• Docket Number: No. 534,534
• Citation: John Wheeler v. New York, New Haven Hartford Railroad Company, 178 U.S. 321, 20 S.Ct. 949, 44 L.Ed. 1085 (1900)
• Parties: JOHN M. WHEELER et al., Plffs. in Err. , v. NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN, & HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

178 U.S. 321

20 S.Ct. 949

44 L.Ed. 1085

JOHN M. WHEELER et al., Plffs. in Err.,

v NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN, & HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY.

No. 534.

Submitted May 14, 1900.

Decided May 28, 1900.

This was a motion to dismiss the writ of error, and in default thereof to affirm the judgment of the supreme court of errors of Connecticut.

The case originated in an application by the railroad company to the judge of the superior court to appoint appraisers to estimate the damages that might arise to the plaintiffs in error from the taking of certain real estate in the city of Bridgeport, for the purpose of carrying out an agreement between the railroad company and the city of Bridgeport for the abolition of grade crossings. This agreement, which was entered into under the provisions of an act of the general assembly, 'providing for the abolition of grade crossings in Bridgeport,' provided the manner, plans, method, and time in which the grade crossings should be abolished, and the proportion of the cost thereof to be borne by the city of Bridgeport and the railroad company—the proportion of such cost to be paid by the city being one sixth and that by the railroad company five sixths, provided the total cost to be paid by the city should not exceed the sum of $400,000.

A demurrer to the application of the railroad company having been overruled, and a special defense in the answer having been stricken out as irrelevant and impertinent, an order was made appointing the appraisers. An appeal was taken to the supreme court of errors, which affirmed the judgment of the judge, of the superior court, and defendant sued out this writ of error, which defendant in error moves to dismiss for want of jurisdiction, or to affirm upon the ground that the question upon which the jurisdiction depends is frivolous.

Messrs. R. E. DeForest and George P. Carroll for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Wm. D. Bishop, Jr., for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiffs assign as error that, in view of the fact that, by the agreement between the city and the railroad company, it was provided that the city should pay one sixth of the entire cost of the land required for the construction of a four-track road, as well as of all damages resulting from the changes of grade, there would be a reimbursement to the company for expenses in doing work and acquiring land not necessary or germane to the work of eliminating crossings at grade of the two present main tracks over the highways; and that, under these circumstances, the condemnation of defendants' property will be in furtherance of a scheme whereby the city of Bridgeport will contribute and donate to such company the credit, money, and property of the city, and of its property owners and taxpayers, in aid of the railroad company, contrary to the provisions of twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution of the state of Connecticut, and the taking and condemnation of said Wheeler and Howes' said property will be a taking thereof without due process of law, etc.

1. We cannot say that there is no Federal question in this case. In their demurrer to the application of the railroad company plaintiffs in error relied upon the unconstitutionality of this special act of the Connecticut legislature as contravening the twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution of the state, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. The amendment to the state Constitution provides as follows: 'That no county, city, town, borough, or other municipality shall ever subscribe to the capital stock of any railroad corporation, or become a purchaser of the bonds, or make donation to, or loan its credit, directly or indirectly, in aid of, any such copo ration.'

The claim was, not that it was unconstitutional for the city of Bridgeport to pay for a part of the work for grade crossing elimination, but that the pay for work for the benefit of the company, in the construction of a four-track road, which was not necessary or germane to the work of grade crossing elimination, would be contrary to the above amendmant to the state Constitution; and therefore that, as the land of Wheeler and Howes was to be taken to carry out a part of the project, to be paid for in part by the city, not necessary or germane to the work of grade crossing elimination, their property would be taken without due process of law. The substance of the defense seems to have been that the land was not taken solely for the purpose of abolishing grade crossings, but also for the purpose of laying two extra tracks, and making the road through the city of Bridgeport a four-track road instead of an ordinary double track. It seems that the railroad company had laid a complete four-track road all the way from New York to New Haven, except in that section which lay in the city of Bridgeport—a distance of more than 4 miles, and crossing at grade twenty-four streets, some of them the most frequented in the whole city. There is no doubt that the special act...