107 So. 110 | La. | 1926
Plaintiff is the owner of a certain lot of ground in the city of New *282 Orleans, with improvements thereon, measuring about 48 feet front on North Rampart between Kentucky and Manuel streets (St. Claude in the rear), by 126 feet in depth.
In November, 1918, the Public Belt Railroad Commission, functioning as an agency of the city government, and operating a belt railroad for account of said city, took and appropriated, for railroad track purposes, a certain triangular portion of ground off the east front corner of said lot, measuring 5 feet along the front and the same along the side, which said portion of ground has therefore about 12 1/2 feet superficial area, and measures about 7 feet from the apex of the triangle at the corner of the lot to the base of the triangle, measured across the lot; thus bringing the line of said railroad track 7 feet nearer the improvements on said lot than the corner of said lot, beyond which the track should have been built, since neither said lot nor said triangle had been legally expropriated, but had merely been taken and appropriated, by the simple process of "bumping" its cars through plaintiff's fences, and laying its said tracks on plaintiff's property.
Again, the unlawful placing of the tracks 5 feet nearer the front of the residence situated on said lot than the corner of said lot had been required that the curve of the tracks should begin 5 feet further away from the corner of said lot, and thus take up 5 feet more of the sidewalk than had said track been placed beyond the corner of plaintiff's lot, where it should have been; and the convenience resulting from a clear and wide sidewalk in front of a lot of ground in a large city is another factor of importance in making up the value thereof. In the case before us, the effect of defendant's placing its tracks where it did place them, instead of where it should have placed them, has been to deprive one-half of plaintiff's double tenement residence almost entirely of any sidewalk whatever.
Plaintiff's lot has therefore been reduced in value far beyond the mere value of the land taken.
Besides which, the greater the vibration to which a building is subjected, the greater the amount required to keep it in repair; and the amount required to keep a building in constant repair has a direct bearing on the value of said building as it stands.
The district judge allowed plaintiff about $500; but, after careful consideration of all the facts and surrounding circumstances, we have thought that this is not sufficient to recompense plaintiff for the damages she has suffered, and have concluded to increase the amount allowed to $1,000.