National Enam. & Stamp. Co. v. Granite City & M. B. L. R. Co.

• Decision Date: 03 December 1917
• Docket Number: No. 18163.,18163.
• Citation: 199 S.W. 238
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Parties: NATIONAL ENAMELING & STAMPING CO. v. GRANITE CITY & M. B. L. R. CO. et al.

199 S.W. 238

NATIONAL ENAMELING & STAMPING CO. v. GRANITE CITY & M. B. L. R. CO. et al.

No. 18163.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

December 3, 1917.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; William T. Jones, Judge.

Suit by the National Enameling & Stamping Company against the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal. Reversed, and bill dismissed, without prejudice.

Plaintiff, a New Jersey corporation, authorized to do business in this state, and with a plant for manufacturing iron and steel products at Granite City, Ill., on May 18, 1910, filed in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, Mo., a proceeding in the nature of a mandatory injunction against the above-named defendants, alleged to be operating the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad, at Granite City, Ill., as a single system, for the purpose of compelling them to specifically perform and carry out the provisions of a contract made in 1900 with the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company, under which it is claimed that said defendants were obligated to switch cars tendered by plaintiff to the plants of the American Steel Foundry Company and the Granite City Manufacturing Company, in or near said city, alleged to be on the line of said Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad, for $1 per car. It is alleged in the petition that said defendants have refused to comply with the terms and provisions of said contract, and have, since 1900, been compelling the plaintiff to pay $3 per car for such service. The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis and the Madison, Illinois & St. Louis Railway Company each answered with a separate general denial.

The Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company filed an elaborate separate answer, containing certain admissions, various defenses, etc. It alleges that it is a corporation organized under the laws of Illinois; that it has never transacted any business in Missouri; that it never had any property or place of business in Missouri and was never licensed to do any business in this state; that all of its property is situated wholly within the state of Illinois and in Granite City of said state. Various admissions are made in the above answer, which will be referred to hereafter. The answer alleges that the American Steel Foundry Company and the Granite City Manufacturing Company have never at any time been located on its line of road in Granite City, nor as described in the 1900 deed referred to in the record, but, on the contrary, both of the above plants are located on the line of railway operated by the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company, which is wholly separate and distinct from the line of this defendant. It is further alleged that it has never operated any line of railway in Granite City; that it has never owned or operated any cars or engines; that upon the execution of said 1900 deed, the possession and control of all the lands conveyed to it by said deed were transferred to the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company; that on said date all of its line then constructed in said Granite City, and all of its line since constructed, has been as constructed, placed in possession of said St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company; that all of its line aforesaid since said date has been operated by the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company; that many years prior to December 21, 1898, said St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company had acquired from said trustees the right to build and operate a railroad track on the west side of a 50-foot strip of land west of, and parallel to, the Bluff Line Railroad from Pacific avenue north in Granite City, a distance of 1,800 feet, more or less; that in 1894 said St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company had constructed and had in operation a line of railroad on said west side of said 50-foot strip last described, which strip is a part of the second and third parcels of land described in plaintiff's petition as being the land conveyed by said 1898 deed, in which deed it is expressly provided that the right of the said St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company to build and maintain its line of railway on said 50-foot strip is expressly reserved to said St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company, and that said deed of 1898 was made expressly subject to said grant to the last-named company. Said answer further alleges that long prior to September 15, 1900, and continuously since, said St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company has operated its said line of railway upon said 50-foot strip as a part of its main line of railroad in the state of Illinois; that prior to September 15, 1900, the American Steel Foundry Company and said Granite City Manufacturing Company were located adjacent to said line of railway of said St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company constructed upon said 50-foot strip; that they continuously have been and are now so located.

Upon a careful consideration of all the testimony in the case, including the plats, we are satisfied that the foregoing allegations of the separate answer of said Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company are sustained by the weight of the evidence. These observations are made at this time in order to avoid repetition. Other matters in said answer are presented, which may be considered hereafter. The St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company filed a separate answer, which presents substantially the same matters contained in the separate answer of said Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company.

Evidence. — The following facts appear from the record:

Plaintiff is a New Jersey corporation, and licensed to do business in this state. The defendants Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company and Madison, Illinois & St. Louis Railway Company are, and at the times mentioned in the record were, chartered under the laws of Illinois. The defendants St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis are, and were at all the times mentioned, corporations duly organized under the laws of Missouri. On September 15, 1900, the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company owned, and still owns, all the stock of the Madison, Illinois & St. Louis Railway Company. That on said date, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis owned, and still owns, all the stock of the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company. That on said date, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, owned more than a majority of the stock of the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company, and now owns about 95 per cent. of said stock. That the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company has operated the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad ever since September 15, 1900.

We gather from the record that F. G., Wm. F., and Henry F. Niedringhaus, called trustees, were the owners of a large tract of land in Illinois on the east side of the Mississippi river, opposite North St. Louis; that they laid off and platted a town called Granite City, and filed a plat of same on May 20, 1893; that the land thus platted was laid off into lots, blocks, streets, alleys, etc. Granite City afterwards became practically surrounded by the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad. The plaintiff a New Jersey corporation, maintained in Granite City its iron and steel plant located on above belt line. Other industries in Granite City were likewise maintained on said belt line. The Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company, was incorporated under the laws of Illinois on December 22, 1892, although its charter was not filed with the secretary of state until December 22, 1893. The stock of the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company was acquired by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis on June 18, 1900.

On September 15, 1900, the said Niedringhaus trustees conveyed by warranty deed to the Granite City & Madison Belt Line Railroad Company five strips of ground in or near Granite City, with certain covenants therein, to wit:

"First. Said grantee shall switch loaded cars between any industries located on its line in Granite City for $1 per car, and shall switch empty cars free of charge which shall have been handled by said grantee loaded and for which its said charge of $1 per car has been paid.

"Second. It shall be the duty of the grantee herein, as part consideration for the conveyance hereby made, to immediately become and to remain during the entire life of this conveyance a portion of and to be operated as a part of the system of terminals owned, controlled, operated or leased by the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company or the Terminal Railroad of East St. Louis, the Madison, Illinois & St. Louis Railway Company, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, the Illinois Transfer Railroad Company, or the East St. Louis Belt Railroad Company, to the end that at all times the industries now, or hereafter located on the grantee's tracks shall as to switching charges and services, be on a parity with industries located on any part of the railroads owned, leased, operated or controlled by the Madison, Illinois & St. Louis Railway Company, the Terminal Railroad of East St. Louis, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, the Illinois Transfer Railroad Company, the East St. Louis Belt Railroad Company, the St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway Company. And said grantee shall switch, or shall cause to be switched,...