Chicago Indianapolis Louisville Railway Company v. McGuire

This was a suit in the nature of a bill in equity instituted in the circuit court for Pulaski county, by the railroad company, to quiet its title to certain land, and for an injunction. The case was tried before a jury, and a verdict returned for the defendants, under instruction of the court.

Both parties claimed title through the Louisville, New Albany, & Chicago Railway Company,-plaintiff in error, which was also plaintiff below,-through certain mortgages given by the New Albany company in 1886, 1890, and 1894, which were foreclosed in the United States circuit court, and through which foreclosure and subsequent sale its title became vested; defendants, through a judgment recovered by McGuire September 24, 1896, in the circuit court of White county, against the New Albany company for $2,416.30, upon which an execution was issued October 16, 1897, to the sheriff of Pulaski county, and a levy made upon the real estate in dispute. A sale was made November 13, 1897, to the defendant Hathaway, to whom a deed was executed by the sheriff November 23, 1898.

It was insisted by the plaintiff railroad company that the property in controversy was a part of the ground appurtenant to its station at Francesville, Indiana, and that the foreclosure and sale of the property of the New Albany road, through which it obtained its title, carried with it the title to the premises in dispute. The judgment of McGuire was obtained after the execution of the mortgages through which the plaintiff claimed its title. Defendants insisted that the disputed property was not embraced within the mortgages under the after-acquired property clause inserted therein, because entirely foreign to the operation of the railroad, and therefore could not have been embraced within the foreclosure and sale.

The appellate court of Indiana sustained their contention, held that the trial court was right in instructing the jury to return a verdict for the appellees, and affirmed its judgment. 31 Ind. App. 110, 99 Am. St. Rep. 249, 65 N. E. 932. The supreme court denied a petition for review.

plaintiff in error.

Messrs. W. H. H. Miller and Maurice Winfield for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court: