City of Mt. Vernon v. Berman & Reed

Citations

• 100 Ohio St. (N.S.) 1

Syllabus

<p>Municipal corporations — Streets and alleys — Dedication and use — Rights of public service corporations — Duty of street railway to restore streets — Upon expiration or forfeiture of franchise — Adequate remedy defined' — Injunction lies, when.</p> <p>1. The paramount purpose for which the streets of a municipality are dedicated and opened is to facilitate travel and transportation. They are held in trust for the benefit of the public and are required to be kept open and. free from nuisance.</p> <p>2. Rights in streets or highways granted to public service corporations are at all times held in subordination to the superior pub-lie rights. ■</p> <p>3. The grantee of a franchise from a municipality to construct and operate a street railway m its streets accepts the grant with knowledge of the dominant rights of the public and that the municipality has not the full powers of an individual in making the contract; and in the absence of valid provisions in the contract there is no implication that on the expiration of the franchise, or its forfeiture for noncompliance with its terms, the grantee may tear up the streets in order to remove its tracks, without restoring them to the condition in which it found them.</p> <p>4. An adequate remedy is one that affords complete relief with reference to the particular matter in controversy, and which is appropriate to the circumstances of the case; and when the conceded facts show that defendants contemplate the doing of things that will constitute a continuing public nuisance, injunction is the proper remedy.</p>