146 Minn. 133 | Minn. | 1920
Two actions tried together in both of which the plaintiff Ludvig J. Pederson was the plaintiff. One action was to recover for removing the plaintiff’s wood shed located in an alley in the rear of his lots. The
In March, 1918, the defendant city caused to be sent to the plaintiff by mail -the following notice:
“Rushford, Minn.
“March 23, 1918.
“Rev. L. J. Peterson,
“Minneapolis, Minn.
“Dear Sir:
“You are hereby notified that the public alley twenty foot wide between the south line of lots 67, 68, and 69 and the north line of lots 73, 74, and 75 in block six, original city of Rushford be vacated and opened*135 for public use. Any property found within said alley must be removed within 30 days after this notice.
“Respectfully,
“C. C. Jensen,
“City Clerk.”
In April, 1918, the city and its codefendants felled the rock elm and converted it into cordwood, and in July, 1918, the defendant and its eodefendants moved the wood shed off from the alley and located it some blocks away upon city property.
The alley has never served a general public purpose. There has never been a 'definite route of travel through it. The tree was not an obstruction to public use. The woodshed was at a point where the alley was not capable of practical use for purposes of travel. The ground was steep and rough and immediately graded into a precipitous bluff upon which traffic was impossible. There was no intention on the part of the authorities of the city, when the notice was given, to grade the alley nor to put it into condition for public travel.
The ease is fairly within the principle of West v. Village of White Bear, 107 Minn. 237, 119 N. W. 1064, where the destruction of trees within the limits of a street was enjoined,, and other cases cited above. The tree was not an obstruction to public travel nor was it taken for a public use. The use made by the plaintiff of the alley for his woodshed was compatible with any actual or contemplated use by the public. The lot owner to the north may have had a remedy against the plaintiff for the encroachment of the wood shed upon the north half of the alley. See Sanborn v. Van Duyne, 90 Minn. 215, 96 N. W. 41. That question is not here.
Some ether points are discussed in the brief of appellants. We have considered them all, but a discussion of them at length is not required. We think that the city took such part in the destruction of the tree and the removal of the wood shed as justifies a finding that it was liable therefor. We have assumed, favorably to the defendants, that the so-called alley was in fact an alley.
Order affirmed.