Oney v. West Buena Vista Land Co

• Decision Date: 23 November 1905
• Citation: 52 S.E. 343,104 Va. 580
• Parties: ONEY et al. v. WEST BUENA VISTA LAND CO. et al.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

52 S.E. 343

104 Va. 580

ONEY et al.

v.WEST BUENA VISTA LAND CO. et al.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Nov. 23, 1905.

1. Easements—Acquisition.

An owner platted land into lots, blocks, streets. A map showing that the streets were to be connected with the streets of a city by means of a bridge to be erected by the owner was recorded. The owner offered to dedicate the bridge to the public but it was not accepted. He sold lots, the deeds referring to the map. He urged the existence of the bridge as an inducement to the purchasers. Held, that the conveyances of lots carried with them an implied grant of the bridge as an easement to the property conveyed.

2. Same—Repair.

A grantor of an easement is, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, under no obligation to keep the same in repair; but this duty rests on those using the easement.

[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 17, Cent. Dig. Easements, § 117.]

3. Same.

An owner platted land into lots, streets, etc., and recorded a map showing that the streets were to be connected with the streets of a city by means of a bridge to be erected by the owner. The existence of the bridge constituted the principal inducement for the purchase of lots. Held, that the purchasers of lots were bound to keep the bridge, constituting an easement to their property, in repair.

4. Same—Abandonment.

The failure of the owner of an easement, bound to keep it in repair, to do so for an unreasonable length of time, is an abandonment of the easement; an abandonment being presumed on the owner doing or permitting an act to be done which is inconsistent with the future enjoyment of the right.

5. Same.

Owners of property owned an easement consisting of a right in a bridge. The bridge, on the flooring being removed, was useless, except for foot passengers. The bridge was built mainly of iron and steel, and was, with the exception of the flooring, well preserved. The owners continued to use the bridge and insisted on their right to repair. Held, that they had not abandoned their right in the bridge; but they must repair it within a reasonable time, or the owner of the structure might remove it.

Appeal, from Circuit Court, Rockbridge County.

Suit by J. L. Oney and another against the West Buena Vista Land Company and others. From a decree dismissing the bill, complainants appeal. Reversed.

Hugh A. White, for appellants.

E. M. Pendleton, for appellees.

CARDWELL, J. During what is now commonly spoken of as the "boom" period, the West Buena Vista Land Company, the owner of a tract of several hundred acres of land lying just across North river from, and west of, Buena Vista, a town then rapidly growing in population, and which afterwards became a city, desiring to enhance the value of its property and make sale of its land in town lots for building purposes, etc., laid the same off into lots, blocks, streets, alleys, parks, and other public places, and on the 23d day of September, 1890, placed a map or plat of said land, so divided, upon record in the clerk's office of the county court of Rockbridge county, according to law. The idea of the West Buena Vista Land Company seems to have been to make its lands across the river from Buena Vista practically a part of that town, and to that end determined to build a bridge across the river connecting the prospective town of West Buena Vista with Buena Vista, and this bridge across North river was shown on the map or plat, made and recorded as stated. The streets of West Buena Vista were to be connected continuously with the streets of Buena Vista by this bridge, and Lexington and Moore streets, appearing on the map of West Buena Vista, and which converge together at the west end of the bridge, form, with the bridge, a continuation of Twentieth street in Buena Vista at the east end of the bridge.

After recording the map showing the streets and bridge, the West Buena Vista Land Company proceeded to make sale of its lots, villa sites, etc., and among the sales it made was a mill, residence, and outbuildings, known as "Moore's Mill, " appearing on said map, to J. L. Oney and bis associates, on March 20, 1891, at the price of $6,000, a "boom" price according to the evidence in this record, and about twice as much as the property would have brought, but for the map of West Buena Vista showing the bridge across North river.

This bridge, contemplated and contracted for in 1890, was well under way in construction when Oney and his associates bought the mill property, which was connected by open and convenient streets and alleys with the bridge and within a few yards of its west end, and was subsequently completed, extending not only across the river, but also over the railroad tracks of the furnace company, the Chesapeake & Ohio, and the Norfolk & Western Railway Companies, andterminated in Sycamore (Twentieth) street, in Buena Vista, with the consent of these several companies; but the completion of the bridge was in accordance with the representations of the company in effecting sales of its lands.

By the bridge "Moore's Mill" was brought within one-half mile of the business center of Buena Vista, while without it the distance was about two miles around by the county road and bridge below. It is admitted that this bridge was built as a passway "for the owners of the West Buena Vista Company, " and after its completion the public was permitted to use it, and it was used for both horse and foot passengers by those desiring to use it; and for a long time, while the county bridge below was down, it was the only thoroughfare into Buena Vista from the western portion of the county; but there has never been any other acceptance of it as a highway by the county of Rockbridge or...