Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Co. v. Adams

• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: MAYES, C. J.
• Citation: Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Co. v. Adams, 52 So. 794, 97 Miss. 62 (Miss. 1910)
• Decision Date: 20 June 1910
• Parties: YAZOO & MISSISSIPPI VALLEY RAILROAD COMPANY v. JOHN R. ADAMS

52 So. 794

97 Miss. 62

YAZOO & MISSISSIPPI VALLEY RAILROAD COMPANY v. JOHN R. ADAMS

Supreme Court of Mississippi

June 20, 1910

March 1910

FROM the circuit court of, second district, Coahoma county, HON SAMUEL C. COOK, Judge.

Adams appellee, was plaintiff in the court below and the railroad company, appellant, was defendant there. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff the defendant appealed to the supreme court.

The railroad company maintains a station, Claremont, a few miles south of Clarksdale, on its line of railroad. It is a mere way-station, and is not within an incorporated village. At this small station the railroad company had for some time maintained a side track affording facilities for loading and unloading freight directly from and to the wagons of the plaintiff when making or receiving shipments. The appellee Adams, owns a farm in the vicinity of the station, and the railroad company's side track was in close proximity to appellee's gin and store. This side track is north of the regular passenger depot and customary freight platform maintained there by the railroad company. Instead of using the freight platform, appellee, for his personal convenience customarily shipped and received freight from and to his gin, wagons, etc., on this side track. The railroad company erected a fence along its right of way, thereby forcing plaintiff to unload his freight upon the depot platform. The fence prevented the delivery of cotton seed, bought and sold by appellant, into cars at the nearest point on the side track to plaintiff's premises, but in no way shut off access, by means of public roads, to and from the freight depot and appellee's gin, seed house and premises. Appellee's suit was based on the theory that the value of his property had been greatly reduced by the loss of conveniences.

Judgment reversed and suit dismissed.

Mayes & Longstreet and C. N. Burch, for appellant.

Even if plaintiff's assumption that Code 1906, § 4854, applies to the construction of a fence along the right of way not within the limits of any municipal corporation is true, it still would give the plaintiff no cause of action.

The appellee is counting upon an alleged injury, which his declaration on its very face alleged, and alleges repeatedly, was suffered by him in common with the public. It is true that the appellee does in his declaration allege that the damages which he suffered in common with the public is greater in his instance; but still it is also true that the injury of which he complains is only common to the public, and his declaration repeatedly so alleges. In such case there is no cause of action in any private individual. The point has been expressly decided in several cases. Missouri, etc., R. Co. v. Colburn, 90 Tex. 230; House v. Water Works, 88 Tex. 233; Kinealy v. Railway Co., 69 Mo. 658; Proprietors v. Newcomb, 7 Metc. (Mass.) 276; Smith v. City of Boston, 7 Cush. 254.

Code 1906, § 4854, deals exclusively with depots. No other term is employed in it. In each and every one of its several provisions, the enactment is such as to show clearly that the legislature had in mind the depot as a whole, in the common use of the term; not, of course, the mere station house, but the place of stoppage and transaction of business. That statute was not designed to apply to the mere minor accessories of an established and continued depot, such as a single side track in or on the depot grounds.

The term "depot" has been frequently construed and applied. In no case has it been given the application contended for in this case, or any analogous application. 13 Cyc. 1041; 3 Words and Phrases, 3004.

The fence did not cut off any access to the station grounds, or to such part of the side track as lay on the station grounds; it did cut off access to the right of way lying north of the station grounds, and to such part of the side track as lay on that right of way. This last is the cause of complaint.

Appellee had no contract with the company of any sort. He made no effort to prove any malice toward himself or intent to injure him. The uncontradicted evidence was that the fence was erected in order to keep cattle off the track, which frequented the place about the seed house, were often run over, and were dangerous to the trains. In the case of Railroad Co. v. Seamans, 79 Miss. 106, this court held that it was negligence in a railroad company to allow such conditions. We rely on that case, and we contend that it was a duty owing to both the train employes and the traveling public to guard against that danger, the company incurring no liability to appellee by fencing the cattle out.

J. W. Cutrer, for appellee.

Where the violation of a public right causes a depreciation in the value of the property of a private person, or other damage thereto, or inconvenience to such person, or damage to his business, he suffers special injury and damage, and has a private right of action. Canton v. Warehouse, 69 Miss. 31; Railroad Co. v. Thomas, 75 Miss. 54; Boom Co. v. Dixon, 77 Miss. 587; Railroad Co. v Saunders, 87 Miss. 607; King v. Railroad Co., 88 Miss. 456; Whaley v. Wilson, 112 Ala. 627, 20 So. 922; Southern Express Co. v. Rose, 124 Ga. 581; Roberts v. Matthews, 137 Ala. 523, 5 L. R. A. (N. S.) 619; Wylie v. Elwood, 134 Ill. 281, 23 L. R. A. 673; Jones v. Bright (Ala.), 37 So. 79; Union, etc., R. Co. v. Hall, 91 U.S. 343, 23 L.Ed. 428. The fact that the appellee alleged that the acts complained of were an injury to the public as well as a special injury to himself, does not affect or invalidate his right. The same acts may, and often do, constitute both a public and a private wrong, and in suing for the private wrong in such cases it is necessary to allege the violation of the public as well as the private right involved. Besides, to constitute a...