Lake Roland Elevated Railway Co. v. Webster

Bryan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The plaintiff below (now appellee) obtained a judgment against the Lake Roland Elevated Railway Company, and the defendant has appealed to this Court. The evidence is set out in the transcript with great detail; much more than is required for any reasonable purpose. The portions .of it necessary to present the questions of law which we are to decide might have been fully stated within a much smaller compass.

In February eighteen hundred and ninety-two ⁵³⁴ the plaintiff rented from William H. Birch the lot known as No. 206 North street, for the term of five years, at the annual rent of twelve hundred dollars. The defendant’s railroad runs on North street, and its elevated structure is in the middle of the street; it is not directly in front of the rented premises but it begins about twelve feet north of the northern boundary. The railway was completed and the cars began to run in May, eighteen hundred and ninety-three. The lot rented by the plaintiff is improved by a building which has been used as a livery stable for a number of years, and is not adapted to any other purpose.

The plaintiff’s business is to keep a livery stable, and he rented the property for that purpose. After the road was in operation, the landlord made á reduction in the rent, bringing it down to nine hundred dollars a year. Evidence was offered in behalf of the plaintiff tending to show that the construction of the elevated portion of the road had been very injurious to his leasehold interest, and had greatly diminished its rental value; and evidence was offered in behalf of the defendant tending to show the contrary. The testimony was extremely conflicting; some of it was to the effect that the rental value was entirely destroyed; and on the opposite side it was testified that it had not been affected at- all.

The testimony was addressed to the jury; it is altogether unnecessary for us to state any of the details. On the prayer of the plaintiff the Court gave to the jury the following instruction: “The plaintiff, by his counsel, prays the Court to instruct the jury that if they shall- find from the evidence that the rental value of the premises known as Nos. 206 and 208 North street, and occupied by the plaintiff as tenant of William H. Birch under the written lease offered in evidence, has been diminished by the construction and use of the elevated railway of the defendant corporation on North street, then the plaintiff is entitled to recover, and the measure of damages is the ampunt which the jury shall find said rental value has been so diminished.” The elevated structure of the defendant on North street ⁵³⁵ is lawfully authorized,, and therefore its obstruction to travel on the street cannot be regarded as a nuisance. It is clear that no one can sustain an action for damage caused by this obstruction which he suffers in common with the public at large. But the’ right to build this elevated road does not imply exemption from responsibility for injuries inflicted on private property by its operation and construction.

It is hardly necessary to add anything to the discussions which have heretofore taken place on this subject. In Baltimore and Potomac R. R. Co., v. Reaney, 42 Maryland, 117 , the question was fully considered, and the principles then declared have ever since been considered as settled in this State. The railroad company was authorized to construct a tunnel under the bed of Wilson street, in the city of Baltimore, and by the excavation of the street for the purpose of constructing the tunnel, a house on Madison avenue was injured, the foundation being weakened and the walls caused to crack. The question was, whether the owner of the house was entitled to l'ecover?

This Court, in a very able and luminous opinion by Judge Alvey, held that although the excavation of the street was lawful and the work was done in a lawful manner, the railroad company was liable for the damages which actually resulted from the work. And in O'Brien v.