Neitzel v. Spokane International Railway Co.

Citations

• 65 Wash. 100
• 117 P. 864
• 1911 Wash. LEXIS 900

Syllabus

<p>Eminent Domain — Proceedings — Judgment — Res ' Judicata-— Matters Concluded — Reversion — Abandonment of Public Use. Where a railroad company appropriated land for right of way and terminal purposes, but devoted the same to other purposes, the final judgment in the condemnation proceedings is not res judicata nor a bar to an action by the- former owner to recover the lands,, where his complaint alleges that the lands were being devoted by the railroad company to a private use not alleged or adjudged to be public in the condemnation proceedings; since the cause of action is consistent with the judgment.</p> <p>Eminent Domain- — Statutes—Construction. Statutes conferring the right of eminent domain are to be strictly construed as to the extent of the interest or title that may be acquired by appropriation.</p> <p>Eminent Domain — Title Acquired — Reversion—Statutes—Construction. Under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8740, authorizing a railway company to condemn land for its right of way and for yards, grounds, docks, and warehouses required for receiving, delivery, storage and handling of freight, and § 927 providing that the decree shall vest the legal title in the corporation for corporate purposes, the fee simple title does not vest in the corporation, but it acquires only such qualified title or interest as it needed for its corporate purposes constituting a public use; and devotion of the same to a private purpose is an abandonment which calls for an explanation to avoid a reversion.</p> <p>Eminent Domain — Public Use — Private Purposes. A wholesale grocery business conducted by a private corporation on lands leased from a railroad company is not a public use, under our eminent domain statutes making the question of public use a judicial question.</p> <p>Eminent Domain — Abandonment of Public Use —Reversion-— Actions — Pleading—Sufficiency of Comblaint. Where land had been appropriated by a railway company for right of way, side tracks, depot grounds, and terminal yards