Fourth Department, November, 1907. [Vol. 122. THEODORE COOPER, Respondent, Appellant, v. THE NEW YORK, LACKAWANNA AND WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY and THE DELAWARE, LACKAWANNA AND WESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellants, Respondents. (Actions Nos. 1 and 2.) Fourth Department, November 12, 1907. Real property — injury to lands by diversion of watercourse damages extra allowance. measure of The measure of damages in an action to recover for injuries to lands by water caused by the improper alignment of bridge abutments is the diminution in value where the injury is permanent; if the injury is for a limited time only the damages are measured by the diminution in the rental value. If, however, the injury may be repaired or the land restored to its former condition, the reasonable cost thereof, if less than the diminution in value of the whole property, is the proper measure of damages. Evidence taken in an action to obtain an injunction requiring the defendant to reconstruct a bridge and restore the stream to its original course and to restore injuries to the plaintiff's land, or in the alternative for damages, examined and held, that the findings as to the value of the lands and the amount of damage were erroneous. A judgment in such action requiring the defendant to pay damages for the restoration of dikes and embankments and also to restore the dikes, or in the alternative to take a conveyance of the lands damaged, is erroneous, for if the defendant take title on payment of full value, the plaintiff is not entitled to recover for restoration. Additional allowance denied. APPEAL in each of the above-entitled actions by the defendants, The New York, Lackawanna and Western Railway Company and another, from a judgment of the Supreme Court in each action in favor of the plaintiff, entered in the office of the clerk of the county of Steuben on the 23d day of January, 1907, upon the report of a referee, the judgment in action No. 2 granting an injunction requiring the defendant the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company to restore certain dikes and embankments, to rebuild the side dam, and to reconstruct a certain bridge across the Conhocton river, so as to restore the stream to its original course of flowage, or, at its option, to pay to the plaintiff the sum of $10,600, his damages, together with costs of the action, providing that upon payment thereof the plaintiff make and deliver a deed of certain lands amounting to seventy acres damaged by the waters of said stream. App. Div.] Fourth Department, November, 1907. Also an appeal by the plaintiff Theodore Cooper, from an order in said action No. 1, entered in said clerk's office on the 29th day of January, 1907, denying the plaintiff's motion for an additional allowance of costs, and from a like order in action No. 2, likewise entered in said clerk's office on January 29, 1907. The plaintiff's lands adjoining the Conhocton river were overflowed by the waters thereof from time to time, and damaged. The plaintiff contends that the flowage of the river during high water was diverted from its original course by the improper and negligent manner in the alignment of the piers and abutments of the bridge which carries the railroad across the river, and which is located just above the lands in question; that they should have been aligned with reference to the high-water current, and not the low-water current; that there were also contributing causes for which the railroad company was responsible, but that the primary cause was the improper alignment of the piers and abutments, causing the natural flow of the water to be diverted from its northerly course, from the northerly bank of the river, to take a more southerly course over the plaintiff's lands; that the volume of water was so great and the current so strong in flowing over and across these lands that it removed the rich alluvial soil, leaving the land practically worthless. Action No. 1 was brought to recover for damages, and action No. 2 for a mandatory injunction. Both actions were referred to the same referee and were tried together. The referee awarded as damages in action No. 1 the sum of $1,732.37. In action No. 2 he directed judgment for the mandatory injunction, with the option to the railroad company to take title to the seventy acres, upon payment of the sum of $10,600, with costs of the action, as has been stated. Judgments were entered upon the decisions of the referee accordingly. Henry W. Jessup, for the plaintiff. Frederick Collin, for the defendants. KRUSE, J.: While we are not disposed to disagree with the conclusions of the learned referee that the overflow of the lands in question, and the APP. DIV.--VOL. CXXII. 9 Fourth Department, November, 1907. [Vol. 122. consequent injury thereto, was caused primarily by the improper and negligent alignment of the bridge piers and abutments, and that the defendant is legally liable therefor, we think that his findings of the value of the lands and the amount of the damages cannot be sustained. Two bridges have been constructed at this place by the railroad company, one in 1881, and the other twenty years later. The first bridge rested upon two abutments and a single pier, and the last was supported by two abutments and four piers. The piers and abutments of both bridges were aligned with the current of the river at low water. The plaintiff contended that the current of the river at high water or flood time was more northerly than when the water was low; that when the water was high the current hugged the north bank of the river at and below the north end of the bridge; that the piers and abutments diverted the water out of its course, and in a more southerly direction, against and over the lands in question on the south side of the river; that the waters not only overflowed his lands on the south side, but cut off the supply of water conveyed through a race from the river to his mill on the north side of the river, practically destroying the mill power. Before the second bridge was built an action was brought by the plaintiff and his co-owners of the mill property to recover damages to the mill property. The suit was compromised, the railroad company acquiring the mill property, and the plaintiff releasing all claims for damages up to that date, it being expressly understood that the release should not be evidence of the railroad company's liability. While it was understood that the release should not be evidence of the railroad company's liability, and was so stated in the release, it was notice of what the plaintiff claimed respecting the alignment of the abutments and piers. Besides, the plaintiff, who was a consulting engineer, contends that he foresaw when the first bridge was building the harm that would come to his lands by such alignment and informed the engineer in charge of that fact, but was unheeded. However that may be, there can be no doubt that the railroad company had notice of the plaintiff's claim respecting the alignment of the pier and abutments before the second bridge was built, and that the piers and abutments were aligned as before. It is contended, however, upon the part of the railroad company that App. Div.] Fourth Department, November, 1907. the alignment is proper, and that the piers and abutments do not divert the water. The piers for the last bridge were built in 1901. In March, 1902, the lands in question were overflowed and have been overflowed periodically since that time. The currents have been so strong, and have come against the south bank with such force as to destroy a dike which the plaintiff had constructed along the south bank, carrying away rich alluvial soil, and rendering the overflowed lands practically worthless, as the plaintiff claims. There are other facts and circumstances both for and against the plaintiff's contention, but we deem it sufficient to say that upon the whole evidence a fair question of fact was presented upon the question of the defendants' liability. 2. We think, however, that the referee erred upon questions of value and damage. The general rule for measuring damages to real property where the injury is permanent, is the diminution in its value. If the injury is for a limited time only, the diminution in the rental value. If, however, the injury may be repaired or the land restored to its former condition, the reasonable cost thereof, if less than the diminution in value of the whole property, is the proper measure of damages. (Sedg. Dam. [8th ed.] §§ 932-942; Hartshorn v. Chaddock, 135 N. Y. 116; Higgins v. New York, Lake Erie & Western R. R. Co., 78 Hun, 567; Senglaup v. Acker Process Co., 121 App. Div. 49; 105 N. Y. Supp. 470.) In action No. 1 the plaintiff was awarded as damages the sum of $1,732.37, made up of $632.37, loss in rental value, $1,000, value of the dikes and embankments destroyed, and $100 for fences. In action No. 2 the referee finds that seventy acres of the plaintiff's meadow land were reasonably worth $125 an acre, which were destroyed for all practical farming purposes, and are now worth not more than $5 an acre, fixing as damages to the seventy acres the difference, which is $8,400, and finding further that the balance of the farm is depreciated in value the sum of $2,200, making in all the sum of $10,600 damages for permanent injuries, and directs that upon payment of that sum the plaintiff convey the seventy acres to the railroad company, but if not paid within the time stated in the decision, judgment for a mandatory injunction is directed, requiring the railroad company, among other things, not only to reconstruct the Fourth Department, November, 1907. [Vol. 122. It will thus be bridge, but to restore the dikes and embankments. seen that the railroad company is not only compelled to pay the $1,000 for the restoration of the dikes and embankments by the judgment in action No. 1, but is also required to restore the dike by the judgment in action No. 2, or, if it chooses, take a conveyance of the land. Manifestly, if the railroad company takes title to the land, and the plaintiff is paid full value therefor, he is not also entitled to recover for restoration. Moreover, the evidence of the cost of restoration is itself very unsatisfactory. Although the plaintiff at first testified that it would cost from $1,500 to $2,000 to put the dike back and get the same result, upon cross-examination he disclaims that it would cost that sum and thinks that $500 would fairly represent the labor and time, stating that it was difficult to estimate the cost. As regards the $100 allowed for fences I fail to find any evidence upon which to base that finding. Neither do I see how the one of $632.37 for loss in rental value can be upheld. That finding seems to be based, so far as it is supported by any evidence in the record, upon the fact that the tenant upon the farm had agreed, before the premises were flooded in the spring of 1902, to pay $450 annual rent, and the plaintiff's testimony (admitted against objection and exception of the defendants) as to the amount of rent that he had actually received, and the further fact that he had released the tenant from the payment of certain back rent after the overflow of the lands in 1902; the finding of the referee upon that subject is that the plaintiff was required to forego the sum of $1,500 back rent, and since that time has only received from the tenant the sum of $219 in 1902 and $133.90 in 1903. This finding is supplemented by the further finding that while the tenant had only paid the amount of rent specified, the diminution in rental value of the farm as a whole should be computed in the amount of $150 a year, making in all for five years, from 1902 to 1906, $750. From this the referee deducts one-third of the amount received from the tenant, leaving the sum of $632.37. It is difficult to determine from the evidence the diminution in the rental value or upon what legal principle this sum is awarded to the plaintiff. The evidence and the findings as to what the contract was between the plaintiff and the tenant is not clear. The plaintiff testified that after the overflow a new arrangement was made with |