Keil v. Grays Harbor & Puget Sound Railway Co.

Citations

• 71 Wash. 163
• 127 P. 1113
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 714

Syllabus

<p>Eminent Domain — Damage to Property — Steam Railroad in Street. The building and operation of a steam railroad in a street under a city franchise is a damage to abutting property, within Const., art. 1, § 16, providing that no private property shall he taken or damaged for public or private purposes without just compensation.</p> <p>Appeal — Preservation of Grounds — Objections—Exceptions. Error cannot be predicated on improper testimony, admitted without objection or exceptions to instructions given or refused.</p> <p>Eminent Domain — Damages Recoverable. Damages to abutting property by reason of the construction of a steam railroad in a city street must be confined to such physical injury as will depreciate its value at the time of the taking; danger from fire being only an element in so far as it depreciates value.</p> <p>Same — Action for Damages — Defenses—Persons Liable. In a common law action for damages to abutting property by the construction of a steam railroad in a city street, tried as a condemnation case with a judgment in that form, the damages being the same as in a condemnation suit which defendant should have commenced before the unlawful entry, the defense cannot be made that the injury was committed by the defendant as a construction company which built the road and has since transferred it; since defendant was a trespasser.</p>