Virginian Railway Co. v. Mullens

Background

A West Virginia landowner sued a railroad company in 1921, saying an embankment and track placed in a stream bank had narrowed the channel and caused overflow and bank washouts that damaged his land. The railroad had bought the completed line in 1907; the chief washouts at issue happened in February 1918 and July 1919 while the United States had exclusive wartime control of the railroad from December 28, 1917, to March 1, 1920. The state trial court found for the landowner, and the state’s highest court declined review, so the question reached the Supreme Court about liability for injuries occurring during federal control.

Reasoning

The Court examined the wartime statutes, the President’s proclamation, and federal orders that committed railroad operation to federal agents. Prior decisions, the Court said, treated federal control as a sovereign taking and complete separation of the private owners from operation. Because the United States operated and controlled the railroad during the relevant freshets, the private company had no power to change the embankment then. The Court therefore held that harms occurring during federal possession were attributable to federal control, not to the private company, and that the jury should have been instructed that the company was not liable for injuries happening during that federal period. The plaintiff could not shift the case to a contract claim on review because the complaint alleged a lawsuit for nuisance.

Real world impact

The decision bars holding a private railroad responsible for damage that occurred while the Government had exclusive wartime control. Landowners who suffer harms during federal possession must pursue claims against the federal authority or under the procedures set by federal law, not against the private owner for those wartime acts.