245 F. 115 | 1st Cir. | 1917
Both these proceedings seek the reversal of a judgment rendered by the Porto Rican Supreme Court July 28, 1916. The judgment was rendered in a case originally brought by the appellees and defendants in error here, hereinafter called plaintiffs, in the district court of Arecibo, against the appellant and plaintiff in error, hereinafter called defendant.
There is no dispute that the defendant, a corporation operating a sugar mill in Arecibo, had in 1907 or 1908 built a private railroad, which crossed lands owned by the plaintiffs, and had since operated said railroad by running trains over it, which carried sugar cane to said factory across the plaintiffs’ lands. Alleging that they had never “executed any deed of servitude on behalf of the defendant corporation,” and had repeatedly requested the defendant to discontinue running said trains and remove said tracks from their lands, the plaintiffs’ complaint asked the court of first instance to declare that “no servitude existed on behalf of any estates of the defendant,” to enjoin further operation of the railroad upon their lands and to order removal of the tracks therefrom.
Upon the evidence, we find no reason for differing from the conclusions adopted by the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs, in our opinion, sufficiently established their right to the relief sought. It could not justly be said that the defendant had ever acquired rights against the plaintiffs beyond those of a licensee under a license revokable at their pleasure. The question was, of course, to be determined according to the law of Porto Rico; and, so far as that law is involved, we must uphold the decision of the court below, unless convinced that clear error was committed by it. Cardona v. Quinones, 240 U. S. 83, 88, 36 Sup. Ct. 346, 60 L. Ed. 538. Such conviction is wholly wanting in the present case.
In No. 1262, the judgment appealed trom is affirmed, and the appellees recover their costs of appeal.
In No. 1263, the writ of error is dismissed, without costs.
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