Liedel v. Northern Pacific Railway Company

• Decision Date: 15 May 1903
• Docket Number: 13,427 - (57)
• Citation: 94 N.W. 877,89 Minn. 284
• Parties: EDWARD C. LIEDEL v. NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

94 N.W. 877

89 Minn. 284

EDWARD C. LIEDEL v. NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY

Nos. 13,427 - (57)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

May 15, 1903

Action in the district court for St. Louis county, by plaintiff, as administrator of the estate of Edward A. Liedel, deceased, to recover $5,000 for damages to the real estate of decedent caused by defendant's change of the grade of its railroad tracks. The case was tried before Dibell, J., and a jury which rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $100. From an order granting a motion for a new trial, defendant appealed. Reversed.

SYLLABUS

Right-of-Way Deed.

Certain property owners executed a deed to a railroad company granting the right of way for a branch road across their property. Contract construed, and held:

Public Road.

1. The road constructed pursuant to the contract was not a private line for the benefit of the property owners only, but was a public line, a part of the company's railroad system, and subject to the general state laws governing railroads.

Grade of Road.

2. The grade at which the road should be built was not fixed by the contract, and it was contemplated by the parties that it should be changed from time to time, as the exigencies of traffic and public necessity might require.

Change of Grade.

3. A property owner deriving title from parties to the deed, and who, subsequent to the establishment of the original grade and construction of the road, built warehouses upon his property, contiguous to the track and right of way, has no claim for damages on account of the expense necessary to raise the warehouses to conform to a new grade established by the railway company subsequent to the construction of the warehouses.

Change of Grade -- Evidence.

4. The evidence is conclusive that such new grade was established not arbitrarily, but in response to demands of several of the property owners, as a public necessity to more effectually handle freight and to conform to the grade of the connecting main line of the road.

J. L Washburn and W. D. Bailey, for appellant.

M. Douglas, for respondent.

OPINION

LEWIS, J.

The main track of the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company occupied Railroad street, at the foot of Minnesota Point, in the city of Duluth, and certain private owners of property located on the westerly side of Lake avenue between Railroad street and the Government Canal entered into an agreement with the company for the purpose of granting the right of way and securing the establishment of a railroad track running across their property to the canal, connecting with the main line at Railroad street. The agreement is set forth in the deed, the material part of which is as follows:

"This agreement, made and entered into this 30th day of May, A.D. 1881, by and between [the several owners of the property], parties of the first part, and the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company, a corporation, * * * party of the second part, witnesseth: That for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar ($1) paid to each of said parties of the first part, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and the covenants and agreements herein contained, said parties of the first part do hereby grant and release unto said party of the second part the use of a strip of land through the property hereinafter described as the same is respectively owned by them, said strip commencing at a point on the south side of Railroad street in Transfer Division of the city of Duluth, county of St. Louis and state of Minnesota, 100 feet, more or less, west from the intersection of the south line of said Railroad street with the west line of Lake avenue, and commencing also at a point 12 feet westerly on the south line of Railroad street from the point before mentioned, thence in the southerly direction 12 feet wide through [various lots owned by the parties of the first part] on Minnesota avenue in Upper Duluth, as designated and mapped upon a map filed for record in the office of the register of deeds for the county of St. Louis and state of Minnesota, and designated 'Map of Right of Way of Railway Track from Railroad Street to Canal,' to which reference is hereby made for greater certainty, * * * to be used for a right of way for a railroad track through said premises for the accommodation and use of the said party of the second part and the owners of said above-described property; and the said party of the second part does agree to construct a track over the said right of way, and that it will at all times transfer or switch cars of all railroads terminating at Duluth to and from said track and any private side tracks connecting therewith, for a reasonable charge, not greater than the charge usually made by railroad companies for like services; and it is further agreed that the rights hereby granted shall cease and determine at any time when said strip of land shall cease to be occupied by such railroad track, and in such event the rights herein granted shall revert to the owners respectively."

The right of way so granted extended across forty-six lots, and the entire distance from Railroad street to the Government Canal was a little more than half a mile. The road was built almost through the center of the various lots described, leaving one-half of them on the east fronting upon Lake avenue, and the other half upon the west fronting upon the bay. The road was constructed shortly after the execution of the agreement, and, according to the evidence, was laid nearly upon the surface of the ground. There was, however, some grading required in the vicinity of Railroad street, and the elevation above the bay, for nearly the entire distance, was about two feet and four inches.

Respondent's grantors became owners of the property in question in 1885 by deriving title through parties to the deed. This property is located about...