Cohn v. San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad

PRESTON (H. L.), J.,

pro tem.

Plaintiff, Abraham B. Cohn, brought this action to quiet title to a piece of real estate situated in the city of Los Angeles. The case was tried by the court without a jury and judgment was entered in favor of the defendant railroad company, from which judgment plaintiff appeals.

The pleadings admit these facts: Appellant, Abraham B. Cohn, was, prior to December 8, 1902, the owner in fee of lot 9, block “A” of Jacoby & Thorne’s Subdivision of a part of the “Blow Track” in the city of Los Angeles. On December 8, 1902, the respondent, by its then corporate name—San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company, acquired the property above described from the appellant, Abraham B. Cohn, by its right of eminent domain. The final decree of condemnation reads, in part, as follows: “It is ordered, adjudged and decreed that the lands and premises described in plaintiff’s complaint and in this decree hereinafter described, become the property of the plaintiff for use as a right of way for its sidetracks, turn-outs, roundhouses, switches, freight yards and such other uses and purposes as are necessary and incident to constructing, maintaining and efficiently operating plaintiff’s line of steam railroad. The land and premises affected

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by this judgment and order are particularly described as follows, to-wit: Lot 9 in Block ‘A’ . . . , all in the Jacoby & Thorne’s Subdivision of the part of the Blow Track in the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, State of California, as per map recorded in Book 18, page 97, Miscellaneous Records of said County. . . .”

At the time the final decree of condemnation was entered Anderson Street, which was" sixty feet wide, bounded the lot in question on the east, but in 1905 the city of Los Angeles, by proper proceedings, abandoned Anderson Street. The lot in question, together' with the abandoned portion of Anderson Street, has been used by respondent for railroad purposes ever since its acquisition by respondent, and particularly used for its roundhouses, shops, stores, building tracks, etc.

In September, 1924, respondent commenced the moving of its roundhouses, shops, storehouse and tracks from the vicinity in which this property was situated to its new terminal known as “East Yards,” near Telegraph Road, city of Los Angeles, at which time the buildings above referred to were dismantled and the tracks leading to and from said buildings were removed. The dismantling of said buildings and the removal of the tracks and the reconditioning of the property in question consumed considerable time. After the buildings were dismantled and the tracks removed, and during the period of removal, the property herein involved was used for the storing of railroad materials incidental to and made necessary by the dismantling of the buildings, the removal of the tracks, etc.