State Highway Dept. v. Georgia Southern & F. Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 05 January 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 21078,21078 |
| Citation | 117 S.E.2d 897,216 Ga. 547 |
| Parties | STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT of Georgia v. GEORGIA SOUTHERN & FLORIDA RAILWAY COMPANY. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen., Carter Goode and E. J. Summerour, Asst. Attys. Gen., for plaintiff in error.
Bloch, Hall, Groover & Hawkins, Macon, Steve F. Mitchell, Tifton, for defendant in error.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
1. Georgia Southern & Florida Railway Company brought its petition in two counts in Tift Superior Court against the State Highway Department of Georgia, alleging that it is the owner of the feesimple title, by reason of certain described deeds, to a right of way through Tift County 100 feet wide, measuring 50 feet on each side of the center line of its main line track; that a State highway, which is under the control and supervision of the State Highway Department, generally parallels said property; that the State Highway Department claims as a right of way property of the petitioner consisting of a strip of land varying in width from 3.5 feet to 15.5 feet between certain described highway stations, and in width from 0 feet to 1.5 feet between other stations; that the State Highway Department is engaged in widening said highway and in doing so is encroaching upon the plaintiff's property by laying pavement thereon at certain points and in working the ditches and drains at other places, and is exercising dominion over and claiming title to said property; and that an actual controversy exists between them as to ownership of the property. Thus, the petition alleges a case 'respecting titles to land' within the meaning of the Constitution of Georgia, art. 6, § 14, par. 2(Code § 2-4902), providing that 'Cases respecting titles to land shall be tried in the county where the land lies.' In Payne v. Terhune, 212 Ga. 169, 170, 91 S.E.2d 348, 350, this court held: Here, the petitioner seeks a decree of title in it upon its title alone as established by deeds set out in its petition, and does not rely upon a court of equity to establish its title.
Since it is not alleged that the parties are adjoining landowners, this case does not fall within that line of cases which hold that, where the issue is the correct dividing line between properties of conterminous landowners, title to the property is not involved. See Whaley v. Ellis, 209 Ga. 147, 71 S.E.2d 209, and Lively v. Thompson, 209 Ga. 425, 73 S.E.2d 90, and cases cited. Accordingly, since the land lies in Tift County, the Tift Superior Court has jurisdiction; and the trial court properly sustained the plaintiff's demurrer to the plea to the jurisdiction filed by the State Highway Department. This court has jurisdiction of the appeal, and not the Court of Appeals, since the case involves title...
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