Bell v. Pollak Steel Co.

19 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 531
CourtOhio Superior Court, Cincinnati
DecidedMarch 15, 1917
StatusPublished

This text of 19 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 531 (Bell v. Pollak Steel Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Superior Court, Cincinnati primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. Pollak Steel Co., 19 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 531 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1917).

Opinion

Gusweller, J.

Tbe plaintiffs own tbeir own bornes and all reside on Rosewood avenue, Cincinnati, some 400 feet east of tbe defendant company’s manufacturing plant. Tbe C., H. & D. Railway tracks parallel plaintiffs’ property within a very few feet, upon wbicb said railway company is operating daily some sixty or more trains. Millcreek and tbe said railway tracks lie between plaintiffs’ property and defendant company’s plant.

Tbe complaint of plaintiffs in this action is that in tbe operation of defendant’s steel manufacturing plant it uses certain “helve hammers” and certain “large drop hammers” from tbe use of wbicb plaintiffs suffer in tbeir sleep, etc., from vibration, which also materially damages plaintiffs’ bouses, all to tbeir irreparable injury, for which they pray for injunction.

Tbe steel company, by way of defense, among other things, contends that it is doing precisely tbe same character of work it has done for many years past, using tbe same hammers and in tbe same manner; that plaintiff, on June 19, 1916, filed a suit in tbe Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County, in wbicb tbe same injunctive relief was sought as prayed for in tbe instant case; that tbe trial court after full bearing in said action declined to issue an injunction, ante, which finding and order was affirmed by tbe court of appeals on November 23, 1916; that on tbe same day the defendant company paid to tbe plaintiffs a substantial sum of money, for wbicb tbe défendant received a general release in said cause of action. After so releasing the defendant company, to-wit, December 29, 1916, tbe plaintiffs filed tbe present suit, setting up the identical complaint set out in tbe former suit. Tbe defendant company contends that all this is res adjtidicata, unless plaintiffs can show greater vibrations and different conditions, operations and results from tbe conduct of defendant company’s plant than existed on November 23, 1916; that is, that tbe trial court and court of appeals having finally determined that no nuisance condition or plant operation condition warranted injunction at that time, that no such injunctive order can follow now if everything as to operation and conduct at present is tbe same. Further, tbe defendant steel company denies that it is wrongfully conducting its [533]*533business and plant operation to the irreparable damage of plaintiffs.

By reply the plaintiffs contend that the point of res adjudicata raised by defendant company is without merit as to vibration occurring subsequent to said court finding and mutual settlement, and also allege that the vibrations are greater since said date than prior thereto.

The court has listened to many witnesses and has heard much evidence on the points in controversy, and has visited the plant of defendant steel company in operation as well as the plaintiffs’ premises. Plaintiffs’ premises were visited by the court during the trial in January and also February 22, 1916, and March 20, 1916, with and without counsel present. Whether the court approves or disagrees with the contention on the theory of res adjudicata applying in this case, it is settled law that the chancellor must be convinced by clear and convincing proof that there is no adequate remedy at law and that the case justifies injunctive relief before plaintiffs can prevail (33 O. S., 371). Is this a case under all the circumstances where, by such proof, irreparable damage is being done to plaintiffs ? Damages to the premises of plaintiffs, if ascertainable in money damages, can be recovered in an action at law, but can not be relieved against in equity (5 N. P., 203). We are of the opinion that in this ease irreparable damage and injury must flow and be inflicted upon plaintiffs, aside from property damages, for which they have no adequate relief at law.

After careful consideration and investigation we are of the opinion that the property of plaintiffs is being vibrated by defendant company’s plant in a perceptible manner; the chandeliers, gas fixtures, looking glass, bed, windows, etc., are affected. We also notice this condition when the railway trains pass, at times indicating a greater degree of vibration than from defendant’s plant. But is the condition and effect such as to be irreparable in damage under all the circumstances in this case, having in mind the character and location of the premises, etc., and without considering the question of res adjjudicataí

Here we have a case where from the evidence it is proven that the defendant company has been engaged in the Millcreek val[534]*534ley, a part of Cincinnati, for the past twenty years, in the operation of a forge and shape shop in the manufacture of locomotive driving axles hammered from billets and ingots, car axles, tender, truck and trailing shafts and heavy steel products, etc., with large invested capital, employing nearly 1,500 men, at an annual wage of nearly one million and one-half dollars, the plant covering an area of some twenty acres, extending one mile east and west, and being one of Cincinnati’s largest manufacturing industries, and that the said business is conducted in a modern, up-to-date manner. On the other hand, we find that the operation of said plant does actually vibrate plaintiffs’ premises. In determining the rights of plaintiffs and defendant company we are bound to consider these various situations. Simply because defendant represents one of Cincinnati’s greatest manufacturing industries will not of itself conclude plaintiffs in their rights. In order to determine their legal rights and the violation thereof, we must consider the location of plaintiffs ’ premises in the Millcreek valley in a manufacturing, factory district, surrounded by many other manufacturing plants and concerns, and that plaintiffs’ houses are located within a few feet of the C., IT. & D. Railway tracks where sixty or more trains are operated daily. All these matters are proper for the chancellor to consider in order to determine by clear and convincing proof whether plaintiffs have suffered and are suffering irreparable damages (Wood on Nuisances, 638-39; 5 N. P., 359).

We are satisfied that plaintiffs’ premises are located in what is known in law as a manufacturing and railway district. There is no evidence indicating that defendant company’s plant is being operated in an improper manner or can be operated under different or more modern methods by which the vibration complained of could be obviated.

The court has held (7 N. P., 254) that the deprivation which plaintiffs suffer of natural rest at night is an interference with their rights for which they are entitled to a remedy; the same principle being also found in 8 N. P., 398; 19 N. P., 70. While it has been held (13 C.C.[N.S.],335) that heavy hammers and machinery operated in a manufacturing district can not be enjoined where no substantial vibration is produced, nevertheless [535]*535we are not ready to say that because defendant’s plant is located in a manufacturing district defendant is at liberty, without limitation, unreasonably and substantially to vibrate plaintiffs’ premises. Even though plaintiffs’ premises are located in a factory or manufacturing district they have legal rights which a court of equity will protect. But plaintiffs, under the present state of circumstances, in law are bound to submit to certain handicaps to their property rights by virtue of such location, which they would not if they were located in a residential district (15 C. C., 228).

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19 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-pollak-steel-co-ohsuperctcinci-1917.