United N.J. R. & Canal Co. v. Consol. Fruit Jar Co.

STEVENS, V. C.

Condemnation proceedings by the United New Jersey Railroad & Canal Company against the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company. On exceptions to the master's report. Modified.

Alan H. Strong, for Clark.

Mr. Booraem, for Consolidated Fruit Jar Co.

Willard P. Voorhees, for Smith & Welsh.

STEVENS, V. C. This case comes up on exceptions to the master's report. The facts are so fully stated by the master that I shall not here repeat them. The controversy is over the division of money paid into court by the United New Jersey Railroad & Canal Company on a condemnation proceeding. This money was paid out to Smith & Welsh under an order of this court, obtained upon an imperfect presentation of the facts. The order was opened, and the case is to be decided as if the fund were still in the hands of the clerk. No question is raised as to the form of the proceeding; the jurisdiction of the court over the matter in controversy being, of course, indisputable.

The question whether Smith & Welsh were entitled to be paid the whole of the fund depends upon whether they were the owners of the land condemned. They claim title in three ways: (1) Because they are grantees of the heirs of Alpheus Freeman, who, it is admitted, died seised of the lands in 1813. (2) As to tracts A and B, because the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company deeded its title.acquired by adverse possession, to them; and that title is, it is said, good against those heirs. (3) As to tract C, because one Martin A. Howell acquired title by adverse possession as against the same heirs, and his executors conveyed that title to Smith & Welsh.

In 181)2 it became known that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company would require an additional strip of land on each side of its track between its present passenger station and the Raritan river. Smith & Welsh conceived the idea of getting the title of the Freeman heirs to this land, and selling it to the company, which did not at that time have the power to condemn. Accordingly Mr. Grimstead, their attorney, began to bargain for deeds from the numerous heirs of Alpheus Freeman. One of those heirs was Mary T. Clark. The evidence shows very plainly that Mr. Grimstead secured the cooperation of James P. Clark, Mary's husband, in his work of investigation. Mr. Grimstead obtained many deeds for Smith & Welsh, and Clark, with the knowledge and approval of Mr. Grimstead, secured deeds from some of the heirs himself, and thus became entitled to 6/77 of the land. Mary T. Clark's interest was 2/77. This appears not only from Mr. Grimstead's letters, but also by a deed prepared by him, which is dated May 11, 1894, made between James P. Clark and Mary, his wife, and Philip Smith and Patrick M. Welsh. In this deed it is recited that Mary Clark and James P. Clark's grantors are tenants in common with Smith & Welsh, and they agree to join in a deed to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Smith & Welsh did not sign this deed, and they now say they did not know of it; but Mr. Grimstead testifies that he put it on record at Smith's request, and I have no doubt whatever that it was obtained in furtherance of their general plan of proceeding.

If the money in court represents the value of the title of the heirs of Alpheus Freeman, there can be no doubt but that Mr. and Mrs. Clark are entitled to 8/77 of it. It is claimed, however, that notwithstanding the fact that Smith & Welsh took deeds from the heirs of Alpheus Freeman, and paid in the aggregate several thousand dollars for them, those heirs did not, in fact, have any title, and that consequently Mr. and Mrs. Clark have no right to a share of the money, and so the master reported.

I will consider this contention first with respect to tracts A and B. The original title of Alpheus Freeman is beyond all question. That title appears to have been recognized by the New Jersey Railroad Company as late as May, 1836, for in that month commissioners appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court awarded for the right of way then taken, to the widow of Alpheus Freeman, $1,500, and to his heirs $1,750. The land on both sides of the track for some years after that remained open. Some time between 1845 and 1850 it was partially fenced by Martin A. Howell, but the fencing inclosed the land of the railroad company as well; its tracks at that point being laid above grade, on a bridge or trestle. The fence appears to have been put up for the purpose of preventing a nuisance. Howell had shortly before built a paper factory to the north of the railroad tracks, and he made some use of the land under and on both sides of them for storing clay and dumping ashes. In 1873 he leased his factory property to the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company, which held under leases until 1880, when it took title by a description which it is admitted did not include the locus in quo. A perusal of the evidence will show that, if Howell had adverse possession of the land in controversy, such possession commenced when he fenced, and that was prior to 1850, so that, when he conveyed to the fruit jar company the adjoining factory property, his title had become indefeasible. It is admitted he did not convey the land, if thus acquired, to the fruit jar company. Smith & Welsh are therefore placed in this dilemma: If Howell had title, the money paid into court did not represent that title, for Howell's heirs (he having died in 1889) were not parties to the condemnation proceeding, and their title was not condemned. Inasmuch, therefore, as the money represents nothing but the Freeman title, it does not lie in the mouths of Smith & Welsh to deny the right of the Clarks to share in it. If, on the other hand, Howell had no title—and he never appears to have claimed any—then, of course, the title being indisputably in the Freeman heirs, the Clarks take their share of the money, as a matter of course.

It is argued, however, that under the decision of Davock v. Nealon, 58 N. J. Law, 21, 32 Atl. 675, the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company could tack its possessory title of less than 20 years to the possessory title of Howell, and that in this way it became the owner of the land by 20 years' adverse possession had prior to the year 1895, when the condemnation proceedings were taken. The difficulty with this contention is that, if the evidence shows that Howell had adverse possession from 1875 to 1880, the year in which he conveyed to the fruit jar company, it also shows that he had such possession for over 25 years prior thereto. His possession was of precisely the same character prior to 1875 as it was after 1875, and so he must have become absolute owner at least 10 years before the conveyance. And so it is not a case of tacking one possession of less than 20 years to another possession of less than 20 years, so as to make a title absolute in the second possessor. The master, whose report indicates that he gave the case careful consideration, appears to have overlooked this.

I think it quite plain that, in any view of the matter, the Clarks are entitled to their share of the money representing tracts A and B.

as a general rule, one tenant in common will not be permitted to purchase a superior outstanding claim for his own exclusive benefit. Freeman on Co-Tenancy, § 154. If the tenants claim, as here, under separate conveyances, it has been doubted in some of the cases whether a relation of confidence should be held to arise out of the mere fact of common ownership. In Bracken v. Cooper, 80 Ill. 221, and Montague v. Selb, 106 Ill. 50, it was held that the fact that title was derived through separate conveyances made no difference. It is not necessary to decide this question, for here, as I have stated, a relation of confidence did in fact exist, and, according to all the cases, this would prevent the tenant purchasing the outstanding title from claiming the exclusive benefit of his purchase.

I think the order directing the payment of the money to Smith & Welsh should be so modified as to permit the Clarks to come in and share in the fund on making proper contribution. They have offered to recognize the agreement made with the fruit jar company, and I think they should contribute to the payment made to Howell's executors.