56-429 - Company to erect fences along roadbed; cattle guards, etc.
§ 56-429. Company to erect fences along roadbed; cattle guards, etc.
Upon the written request by certified mail to the registered agent of therailroad in question of any landowner whose land adjoins the railroad andwhose land is otherwise enclosed for the purpose of maintaining livestock,every railroad company shall cause fences to be erected along its line and onboth sides of its roadbed and shall keep such fences in proper repair. Suchfence shall be adequate to enclose livestock. The owners of adjoining landsmay connect their fences with such fences at such places as they may deemproper. In erecting such fences the company shall, at the termini of thoseportions of the roadbed which it is required to fence, and on each side ofall public and private crossings, construct across its roadbed and keep ingood repair cattle guards reasonably sufficient to turn all kinds oflivestock, with which its fences shall be connected. Such cattle guards atprivate crossings may be dispensed with if the company erects sufficientgates and maintains them in good order.
Such fences shall be constructed on the request of the landowner, in writing,by certified mail, to the registered agent of such railroad. If the companyrefuses or fails, for 180 days after such request, to construct or maintainthe fences at the place designated, the owner, having given ten days' noticein writing to such registered agent, may apply to the circuit court of thecounty or city in which any such point is located for the appointment ofthree disinterested freeholders, whose duty it shall be to go on the land anddetermine whether the proposed fence shall be constructed. Their decisionshall be in writing, and shall be forthwith returned to and filed in theoffice of the clerk of such court. If such decision is that the fence oughtto be constructed, the company shall, within sixty days thereafter, constructthe same. Upon its failure so to do, it shall pay to the landowner fiftydollars for every day of such failure. Any style of fence approved by theState Corporation Commission shall, if properly constructed and maintained,be deemed a sufficient fence within the meaning of this chapter. Any delay inconstruction or maintenance caused by inclement weather, war, strikes, actsof God, national emergencies or failure of any local, state, or federalgovernmental agencies to grant permits shall extend the aforesaid period.
Any such company may erect gates or bars instead of the cattle guardsrequired by this section, if, in the judgment of the company, the hazard totrains at such crossings requires gates or bars as a safeguard to life andproperty on the trains. If such fence, cattle guard or gate is destroyed ordamaged due to the negligence of the landowner, the landowner shall be solelyresponsible for restoring or repairing such fence, cattle guard or gate.
The circuit court of the county or city wherein any such fence or cattleguard, or any portion thereof, is to be erected or built pursuant to thissection shall have jurisdiction through its power to grant equitable reliefto compel the erection of any such fence, or building of any such cattleguards along or adjoining lands or lots actually enclosed.
(Code 1919, § 3946; 1994, c. 352.)