St. Louis, K.C. & C.R. Co. v. Wabash R. Co.

• Decision Date: 03 April 1907
• Docket Number: 2,426.
• Citation: 152 F. 849
• Parties: ST. LOUIS, K.C. & C.R. CO. v. WABASH R. CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

152 F. 849

ST. LOUIS, K.C. & C.R. CO. v. WABASH R. CO. et al.

No. 2,426.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

April 3, 1907

(Syllabus by the Court.)

The term, 'right of way,' when used to describe the real estate of a railroad company, ordinarily signifies the entire strip of land which the corporation has found it necessary or convenient to acquire the right to use for railway purposes and it is not limited to the specific part thereof secured or used for its main track or other particular improvements.

When the terms of a decree are plain and free from ambiguity their ordinary meaning and effect may not be lawfully extended or contracted by construction, in the absence of proof to a reasonable certainty that such was the purpose of the court, for the legal presumption is that the judge carefully expressed his deliberate intention therein.

The absence from a decree of any limitation or exception to general terms of known significance raises a persuasive legal presumption that the court intended to make none.

In a second suit between the same parties or their privies upon the same cause of action not only every matter offered, but every admissible matter which might have been offered to sustain or defeat, in whole or in part, the cause of action is rendered res adjudicata by a former judgment upon the merits.

A court of equity may condition its decree for the enforcement of a former decree for the continuous use of a right of way or of terminal facilities by equitable terms, or may refuse to enforce it, where subsequent to the entry of the original decree such radical changes in the situation, rights, or relations of the parties have been wrought that equity demands such terms or forbids its enforcement.

But, in the absence of such changes, the original decree concludes the rights and remedies of the parties, and it must be enforced.

In 1886 the Circuit Court rendered a decree that the Colorado Company should enjoy the joint and equal use of the 'right of way, tracks, side tracks, switches, turn-outs, turntables and other terminal facilities' of the Wabash Company between the north line of Forest Park and Eighteenth street, in the city of St. Louis, on reasonable terms fixed therein.

Held: (1) This decree entitled the Colorado Company to the joint use of the entire strip of land between the north line of the park and Eighteenth street which the Wabash Company had acquired the right to use for railway purposes at the date of the decree and of all the tracks, side tracks, turn-outs, turntables, and other terminal facilities thereon.

(2) That decree was equitable, and, in the absence of proof of such a change of conditions since its entry as would render its enforcement unjust, the Colorado Company is still entitled to the joint use of this entire strip and of all the tracks, side tracks, switches, turn-outs, turntables, and other terminal facilities of the Wabash Company which are now upon said strip.

(3) But the Colorado Company is not entitled under that decree to the use of the industrial tracks, land or other railway facilities of the Wabash Company outside the limits of that strip, the use of which it had acquired at the date of the decree of 1886.

W. F. Evans and Frank Hagerman (E. S. Robert and M. A. Low, on the brief), for appellant.

J. L. Minnis (Wells H. Blodgett, C. N. Travous, and H. S. Priest, on the brief), for appellee Wabash Railroad Company.

Before SANBORN, HOOK, and ADAMS, Circuit Judges.

SANBORN Circuit Judge.

On December 31, 1886, upon a petition of intervention in the suit to foreclose the mortgages upon the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company, the court below rendered a decree to the effect that the St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado Railway Company should have the joint use of the 'right of way, tracks, switches, side tracks, turn-outs, turntables and other terminal facilities of the Wabash Railway Company between the north line of Forest Park and Eighteenth street in the city of St. Louis,' and that for this use it should pay 6 per cent. per annum upon $500,000, one-half of the value of this property, and its proportion of the cost of its maintenance upon a wheelage basis. The Wabash Company appealed from this decree, and it was affirmed by the Supreme Court. Central Trust Co. v. Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific R. Co. (C.C.) 29 F. 546; Joy v. St. Louis, 138 U.S. 1, 11 Sup.Ct. 243, 34 L.Ed. 843.

Eighteenth street runs north and south. The Union Station is located upon the west side of this street. The east line of Forest Park is about three miles west of Eighteenth street. At the time this decree was rendered the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company owned a strip of land which varied in width from 30 feet to more than 200 feet, and which extended from Eighteenth street to the east line of the park, and it also had an easement for the passage of its trains and engines upon a strip of land 42 feet wide through the park from the east side to the north side thereof. It had constructed and was operating a main track, side tracks, switches, and terminal facilities upon this property. Under this decree the Colorado Company entered upon, and continued in the joint use of, this main track and some of the side tracks, switches, and terminal facilities until 1902, when the Wabash Railroad Company, which had succeeded to the rights of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company, limited its use to that necessary for the ingress and egress of its trains to and from the station over the main track and the side tracks requisite for their passage. Thereupon the Colorado Company applied to the court for an order that the Wabash Company be required to permit it to use all the terminal facilities of that company between the north line of the park and Eighteenth street, including its tracks, switches, turn-outs and turntables. Issue was joined, testimony was taken, and after a final hearing the court adjudged that the Colorado Company was entitled, under the terms of the original decree, to the joint use of the tracks and railway facilities of the Wabash Company upon that strip of land upon which the main track of the Wabash Company was laid 42 feet in width through the park and only 28 or 30 feet in width from the east line of the park to Eighteenth street, and to the use of none of the other terminal facilities of the latter company. Central Trust Co. v. Wabash, St. Louis & Pac. R. Co. (C.C.) 144 F. 476. This decree is challenged by the appeal. The Colorado Company asserts, and the Wabash Company denies, that the 'right of way' meant by the original decree was the entire strip then owned by the Wabash Company between the east line of the park and Eighteenth street; and the real question in this case is whether the joint use decreed to the Colorado Company in 1886 extended to the entire strip and the railway facilities thereon, or was limited to that portion thereof 28 to 30 feet wide upon which the main track had been built and to the improvements upon this narrower strip.

The parts of the decree pertinent to this issue read in this way:

'And the court doth further find, order, adjudge, and decree that the equities are with said interveners and said interveners are entitled to the relief as prayed for in their amended bill of complaint herein. And the court finds, adjudges, and decrees that the basis of compensation to be paid by the intervener, the St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado Railroad Company, for the use of the right of way and tracks, side tracks, switches, turn-outs, turntables, and other terminal facilities of said Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company at and between the north line of Forest Park and Eighteenth street, in the city of St. Louis, shall be the value of said right of way, tracks, and other property last described as determined by the master in his said reports, and the compensation to be paid shall be, per annum, 6 per cent. on one-half of the value of said right of way, tracks, side tracks, switches, turn-outs, turntables, and other terminal facilities, and the said one-half value is and shall be taken to be $500,000. * * * And the court doth further order, adjudge, and decree that the running of all trains, engines, or cars of said intervener, the said St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado Railroad Company, over said right of way and tracks and the use of said right of way, road, terminal facilities, and other property specified as aforesaid, shall conform to the rules and regulations now in force and such other reasonable rules and regulations as may hereafter be adopted. * * * And the court doth further order, adjudge, and decree that in all respects subject to the terms of this decree the said railroad company, intervener, shall enjoy the equal use and benefit of said right of way, tracks, switches, side tracks, turn-outs, turntables, and other terminal facilities with said Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company, or its said receivers, and the said Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company, * * * and all persons claiming by, through, or under them, * * * are hereby perpetually enjoined and restrained from in any manner refusing to permit the said intervener * * * from using with it for their engines and cars (loaded or empty) the said right of way, tracks, switches, side tracks, turn-outs, turntables, and other terminal facilities of said Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company between the north line of said Forest Park and said Eighteenth street. * * * And the said intervener, the St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado Railroad Company, by its officers, agents, and employes, and each of them, is hereby authorized and permitted with its right of way, road, tracks, and property, engines, and cars, loaded or empty, to make

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