Murphy Chair Co. v. Am. Radiator Co.

• Decision Date: 01 October 1912
• Docket Number: Docket No. 35
• Citation: 172 Mich. 14
• Parties: MURPHY CHAIR CO. v. AMERICAN RADIATOR CO.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

172 Mich. 14

MURPHY CHAIR CO. v. AMERICAN RADIATOR CO.

Docket No. 35

Michigan Supreme Court

Submitted June 12, 1912

October 1, 1912

Orla B. Taylor and Charles F. Delbridge, for complainants.

Bernard B. Selling, Charles H. Ripley, and George H. Simpson, for defendant.

STONE, J. This case involves the nature and extent of certain easements and their relation to one another. The facts in the case are somewhat extended and involved, but not intricate, when fully understood. By their bill of complaint, the complainants seek to have declared null and void a certain right of way for railroad track, or easement, claimed by the defendant American Radiator Company to exist from its certain tract of land shown on Exhibit A, being a plat attached opposite page 32 of the record, west to the right of way of the Wabash Railroad Company. We shall refer to Exhibit A, and incorporate the same in this opinion.

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The bill avers that it is unjust and inequitable to permit a construction and maintenance of such track; that if it should be found that the American Radiator Company has the legal right to lay and maintain such track, that the court should construe such grant or right of way, and decree the nature, extent, and limits of the defendants' right to the use of the same, and the rights of the complainants with reference thereto. It prays that the defendants be enjoined from laying, maintaining, and operating a side track upon and across the property of complainants; or, if found that they have a right to lay, maintain, and operate the same, that the said defendants be perpetually enjoined from laying, maintaining, and operating such side track except within the limits defined by the court.

In 1882 George V. N. Lothrop was the owner of the entire parcel of land embraced in this plat, designated thereon as W, A, M, N, V. Prior to conveying away said land, no easements existed as to any of the property. It had a frontage on Russell street, Trombley avenue (then known as Campau road), the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad on the east, and the Wabash Railroad on the southwest.

On October 3, 1882, Mr. Lothrop and wife conveyed the parcel in the northeast corner, marked "D, A, B, C," to Robertson & Bergen, and by mesne conveyances this parcel became the property of the defendant American Radiator Company. The conveyances relating to this portion of the property contain no easements, either by grant or reservation. Upon this parcel of land, containing a trifle more than six acres, a manufacturing plant was established, and has been maintained ever since.

At the time of this sale to Robertson & Bergen, in 1882, the parcel lying immediately west, and described by the letters, W, D, C, P, S, on the plat, was occupied by Force & Dickinson under a lease from Mr. Lothrop.

On April 11, 1885, Mr. Lothrop and wife conveyed that parcel of the property in the southeast portion of the plat east of the Wabash Railroad, and described within the letters, P, B, M, N, O, to Miles C. Huyett, who immediately conveyed it to M. J. Murphy & Co. The latter company conveyed it to Murphy, Wasey & Co. in 1889. The name of this company was changed, in 1901, to the Murphy Chair Company, one of the complainants in this case.

Ever since 1885 this portion of the property, which contains about eight acres, has been continuously used as a manufacturing plant. The said deed to Huyett was recorded June 4, 1885, in Liber 275 of Deeds, page 558, in the register of deeds office for Wayne county; the description being:

"Land in the city of Detroit, Wayne county, Michigan, being part of outlots three (3) and four (4) of Theodore J. and Denis J. Campau's subdivision of fractional section twenty-nine (29) and thirty-two (32) in town one (1) south, range twelve (12) east, a plat of which is recorded in Book 2, page 2, of Plats, and described as follows: Beginning at the southeast corner of a piece of land heretofore sold and conveyed by said Lothrop to Robert A. Robertson and Zaccheus Bergen, and being 450 feet distant from the north line of said outlot 4; thence westerly on a line parallel to the southerly line of the Campau road 907.37 feet; thence southerly to the northerly line of the right of way of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company by a line at right angles to the northerly line of said right of way, and being a distance of about 30 feet; thence southeasterly along said northerly line of said railroad right of way until the same intersects the southerly line of said outlot 4; thence easterly along the southerly line of said outlot 4 until the same intersects the western line of land owned by the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad Company; and thence along the western line to the place of beginning, containing by estimate 8.07 acres; it being the intention to convey hereby all of outlots 3 and 4 lying northerly of the right of way of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company, except the portions heretofore sold to said Robertson and Bergen and to the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad Company, the parcel now leased to Force & Dickinson, and the 30-foot strip of land lying between the parcel occupied by Force & Dickinson and the right of way of said Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company; also granting hereby to said second party a right of way from the land hereby conveyed over and along said 30-foot strip of land to Russel street, until Harper avenue shall be opened and extended across the right of way occupied by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company and the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company, when such right shall cease. * * * Said land is sold subject to the express condition that when Harper avenue is opened across said last-mentioned railway said Huyett shall, without charge, open and extend said avenue across the southerly 40 feet of said premises. Said Lothrop, however, expressly reserves to himself, his heirs and assigns the following easement, viz., the right to lay, maintain and operate upon and across said premises, as near the north line thereof as shall be convenient and practicable, a railroad track to connect the premises now occupied by Force & Dickinson with the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway, and for the use of the owners and occupants of the said premises, the strip of land to be used for said track not to exceed 15 feet in width, and if at any time said Huyett, his heirs or assigns, shall desire to use said tracks for the use of the premises hereby sold, jointly with the occupants of said Force & Dickinson premises, they shall have the right to do so, first paying therefor a share of any expenditure which said Lothrop or Force & Dickinson may have made in the building of said track, such share to be mutually agreed upon, or, if they fail to agree, to be fixed by the acting engineer for the time being of said railroad company. Said joint use shall be by each party without unreasonably obstructing the other."

On or about July 1, 1886, said George V. N. Lothrop entered into a certain land contract with Thomas W. D. Dickinson and Isaiah H. Force, by which said Lothrop agreed to convey to said Force & Dickinson the piece or parcel of land described in said plat within the letters W, D, C, P, S, together with the right to lay railroad tracks across or along the 30-foot strip between said premises and said railroad, and also that certain easement connecting said parcel with the railroad of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad Company by a railroad track, which was reserved by said first party by deed from him to Miles C. Huyett, dated April 11, 1885, and recorded in Liber 275 of Deeds, on page 558.

Some time prior to June, 1889, the Force & Dickinson land contract with Mr. Lothrop was assigned to Frederick W. Hayes, president of the Preston National Bank, to secure certain indorsements and guaranties made by him for them to obtain certain loans at the bank. Mr. Lothrop and Mr. Dickinson both died prior to 1899, and in the subsequent proceedings they were represented by their heirs and legal representatives. Mr. Hayes negotiated the sale of the east 100 feet of the Force & Dickinson property (parcel C, D, E, F, referred to in the record as the 100-foot strip) to the Radiator Company. Mr. Dickinson having died, leaving minor heirs, proceedings were taken on June 21, 1899, in the Wayne circuit court, in chancery, for leave to sell their interest in the parcel. The petition sets up that by the contract of 1886 Mr. Lothrop agreed to convey the parcel W, D, C, P, S,—

"Together with the right to lay a railroad track across or along the 30-foot strip between said land and said railroad [Wabash], and also that certain easement connecting said parcel with the railroad of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad Company by a railroad track which was reserved by said first party by deed from him to Miles C. Huyett, dated April 11, 1885."

In pursuance of this petition, which was granted by the court, a tripartite indenture was made on June 22, 1899, whereby the Lothrop estate, Isaac F. Force, and the heirs of Mr. Dickinson conveyed the 100-foot strip to the Radiator Company; the conveyance expressly stating that it was executed and delivered by the said party of the first first part (the Lothrop estate) in pursuance and in partial satisfaction and fulfillment of said contract or agreement of sale of 1886. In order to carry into effect the provisions of the contract with reference to easements, so that the parcel sold to the Radiator Company, as well as the Force & Dickinson parcel, might have the benefit thereof, the following provision was inserted in the deed:

"Together with the right to construct and maintain a railroad track across the southerly part of the remainder of said premises, and across or along the 30-foot strip mentioned in said contract or agreement of sale substantially upon the line of said track as at present

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