Western New York & Pennsylvania Railway Co. v. Vulcan Foundry & Machine Co.

Citations

• 251 Pa. 383
• 96 A. 830
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 475

Syllabus

<p>Railroads — Right of way — Title—Adverse possession.</p> <p>1. Title by adverse possession cannot be acquired against a railroad company for a portion of its right of way as it holds its title for a public use.</p> <p>Rjectment — Railroads—Right of way property — Title—Right of possession — Lessee—Parties—Judgment.</p> <p>2. In an action of ejectment by a railroad company and its lessee, an operating railroad, against a manufacturing company for land claimed by defendant under averment of title and more than twenty-one years adverse occupancy, plaintiff proved title to the land in an individual predecessor and a completed condemnation thereof by the plaintiff lessor. Defendant offered evidence to prove that the land in question had been appropriated by the State for canal purposes, subsequently sold at sheriff’s sale, and by various conveyances vested in their predecessor. In rebuttal plaintiff proved a quitclaim deed from defendant’s predecessor to the individual under whom plaintiffs claimed by condemnation, delivered before the damages under the condemnation were assessed and paid. The trial judge charged the jury that the defendant could not claim by adverse possession as against the railroad company and that the evidence offered by plaintiff to prove their title was sufficient to warrant a verdict. Held, that judgment was properly entered upon a verdict for plaintiff, lessee.</p> <p>3. Where in such case it appeared that the plaintiff’s right of possession was at the commencement of the proceeding in the operating railroad company, lessee, under a lease thereafter continuously renewed previously to the expiration of every current term thereof, a judgment of nonsuit should be entered against the lessor company.</p>