Lead Opinion
Plaintiffs and defendants both appeal from the judgment herein, and most unnecessarily present their appeals upon two distinct, but identical records. The action .is the usual abutter’s action against an elevated railway. The plaintiffs are tenants in common of the premises known as No. 229 West Broadway, in the city of New York. The court below has found that the erection and operation of the railway has resulted in no loss of rental value, but that it has reduced the fee value, and the judgment in favor of the plaintiff Matthew M. Hoggin awards him the customary alternative injunction unless the defendants shall pay the sum of $600, with interest. He is also awarded costs. As to the other plaintiffs, the court has found that their claims are barred by lapse of time, and as to them, the complaint has been dismissed, with costs.
The premises affected were owned by one Michael Hoggin, who died on November 8, 1865, intestate, and leaving a widow and four children. His widow died in 1901. It is found that her dower was admeasm'ed by parol, b,ut it- does not appear when this was done. The operation of. the elevated railway in front of the premises began in June, 1878,- at which time three of Michael Hoggin’s children, whose interests are now vested in the plaintiffs, other than Matthew M. Hoggin, were of full age. Matthew was then fourteen years of age, having been born in May, 1864. This action wás begun on December 19, 1902. At all times since the commencement of the operation of the railway the property has been owned in common, and Matthew M. Hoggin has been one of the ten-an ts in common. Thus it appears that Matthew M. Hoggin was under the disability of infancy for seven years after the operation of the road began, that is to say, from June, 1878, until he came of age in May, 1885. Under section 375 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as construed in Howell v. Leavitt (95 N. Y. 617), he was entitled to add this period of seven years to the time that his right to sue would have run if he had been an adult when the operation of the road commenced. If he had been an adult, his right to sue would have been barred by prescription in twenty years, or in June, 1898, For
The judgment, in so far as appealed from by defendants, is affirmed, and in so far as appealed from by plaintiffs is reversed and a new trial granted with one bill of costs to plaintiffs to abide the event. .
Patterson, P. J., and McLaughlin, J., concurred; Laughlin and Houghton, JJ., dissented in part.
Dissenting Opinion
I concur, in an affirmance of the judgment in favor of the plaintiff Matthew M. Goggin, but I do not think the infancy of the one
There appears to be a curious dearth of authority on the effect of the disability of one tenant in common upon the running of the statute as to the cotenant. In England, as early as' the case of Roe d. Jangdon v. Rowlston (2 Taunt. 441) it was held that if an estate descend to parceners, one of whom is under a disability which continues more-than twenty years and the other does not . enter within twenty years, the disability of the one does not preserve the title of the other. This holding does not appear to be from any peculiar statute, and is stated as the general rule in Blanshai’d Lim; *22. To the same effect is Thomas v. Machir (7 Ky. [2 Bibb] 412) and Floyd's Heirs v. Johnson (12 id. [2 Litt.] 109). Logically this must be so, for each tenant in . common can convey his undivided interest and lose it from adverse possession ; and there is no reason why the disability of one of. the co-owners should save the individual rights'of the other from the operation of the statute.
It is claimed, however, that there is a wide difference between taking actual title'away from a tenant in common by adverse possession and obtaining prescriptive title to an e_asement as against him ; for although he may convey what title he has, he cannot alone grant an easement. It is true he cannot convey an easement as to the whole property, or grant one in any sense complete, but he can create one good" as against himself. Such result of his conveyance is expressly recognized in Crippen v. Morss (49 N. Y. 63) and in Edridge v. Rochester City & B. R. R. Co. (54 Hun, 194), relied upon by appellants. In White v. Manhattan R. Co. (139 N. Y. 19) a
The present action is not to recover real property held adversely, in which the rule is that the statute does not commence to run until the determination of a prior estate. In such case there is no right of possession until the prior estate is terminated. The action which plaintiffs instituted is one to restrain a continuing trespass, and it arose as early at least as when the defendants began to operate their railroad. (Hindley v. Manhattan R. Co., 185 N. Y. 335.) If any injury resulted to the land, it was one daily “ done to the inheritance” which section 1665 of the Code of Civil Procedure expressly gives a remainderman a right of action for, notwithstanding any. intervening estate for life or for years. The appellants could, therefore, have brought action at any time within the twenty years, and if the infant cotenant could or would not join with them as plaintiffs they could have made him a defendant. (De Puy v. Strong, 37 N. Y. 372.) By their failure to do so, I think they have lost what rights they had, either because the Statute of Limitations of twenty years is a bar or because their claim is a stale one which the court should not entertain, and that the dismissal of the complaint as to all the plaintiffs, except the
Laughlin, J., concurred.
On defendants’ appeal, judgment affirmed; on plaintiffs’ appeal, judgment reversed, new trial ordered with one bill of costs to plaintiffs to abide event. Settle order on notice.
