Casitas Investment Co. v. Charles L. Harney, Inc.

203 Cal. App. 2d 811, 21 Cal. Rptr. 821, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2429
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 22, 1962
DocketCiv. 19569; Civ. 19546
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 203 Cal. App. 2d 811 (Casitas Investment Co. v. Charles L. Harney, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Casitas Investment Co. v. Charles L. Harney, Inc., 203 Cal. App. 2d 811, 21 Cal. Rptr. 821, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2429 (Cal. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

SHOEMAKER, J.

We have before us two appeals: the first by defendant Charles L. Harney, Inc. from orders granting a mandatory injunction and denying its motion to reopen the case; the second by defendants Rosario Paratore and Independent Construction Company, a partnership, from an order denying their motion for attorney’s fees and trial expenses incurred in securing a release of a temporary restraining order.

Plaintiff Casitas Investment Company, a corporation, brought this action against defendant Charles L, Harney, Inc., to recover damages for loss of lateral support of plaintiff’s land, and later amended by an additional count seeking a mandatory injunction ordering said defendant to provide satisfactory lateral support along the boundaries adjoining plaintiff’s property; and against defendants Rosario Paratore and Independent Construction Company (a partnership consisting of Paratore and his son) 1 to obtain a restraining order enjoining them from selling their property without first providing satisfactory support for plaintiff’s land. The court issued ex parte an order to show cause and restraining order against Rosario Paratore and Independent Construction as requested. The court subsequently, on the filing of the *813 amendment, ordered defendant Harney to appear and show cause why it should not be ordered to provide satisfactory lateral support for plaintiff’s land and abate the nuisance then existing. After an extended hearing on the orders to show cause, the court issued a mandatory injunction requiring defendant Harney to provide the support necessary to stabilize the plaintiff’s property, and the Paratore defendants to permit access to and use of their property to accomplish the stabilization.

The record shows defendant Harney was formerly' the owner of the real property adjoining that owned by the plaintiff; that in 1955 Harney made a “cut” or excavation on its land and by the fall of 1956 certain sloughing or soil failure in the vicinity of this cut had become evident; that in November of 1957 Atlas Realty Company bought the property above the Harney land and from November 1957 through March 1958 it removed a stand of trees from this property; during this time it also constructed a drainage ditch paralleling the Harney excavation. In April 1958, Harney conveyed the property to defendant Paratore and on September 17, 1958, Atlas sold its property to plaintiff Casitas. In 1956 soil failures began in the area of the cut, and became increasingly severe. By November 1957, when Atlas bought the land, holes were “nicking back” into the property it purchased. This action continued and at the time this litigation was commenced, it was evident that further soil failures might encroach another 30 to 40 feet onto the plaintiff’s property, if preventive measures were not taken.

The bulk of the evidence consisted of expert testimony as to the cause or causes for the soil failure. Plaintiff’s expert, a soil engineer, testified that the Harney excavation was the sole cause of the damage. He stated that the removal of the trees and the construction of the ditch by Atlas did not contribute to the soil failure for, in his opinion, the ditch served to protect the cut and the soil failure would still have occurred even had the trees been left standing.

Defendant Paratore’s expert found fault with the cut and was also of the opinion that Atlas and the plaintiff Casitas could have protected the cut and that the removal of the trees and the construction of the ditch by Atlas contributed to the sloughage by increasing the erosion.

Defendant Harney’s expert exculpated Harney, stating that the activities of plaintiff and its predecessors had been the sole cause of the soil failure.

*814 It was established that defendant Harney had not obtained a permit from the City and County of San Francisco, as required by section 309 of its building code, prior to making the excavation, but had obtained a permit only after receiving notices to stop work from the city; also, it had failed to notify the adjoining landowners of the date when excavation would commence and the anticipated depth of the excavation, pursuant to Civil Code, section 832.

Upon conclusion of the hearing, the court found that stabilization was needed for the lateral support of plaintiff’s property, but left open the question as to which of the defending parties was to provide it. However, it released the temporary restraining order preventing defendants Paratore and Independent Construction from conveying their land, requiring in lieu thereof that any deed executed by defendant Paratore reserve a right of ingress and egress for the purpose of completing any stabilization work which might be ordered by the court. Shortly thereafter, defendants Paratore and Independent Construction moved for attorney’s fees and expenses incurred in securing the release of the temporary restraining order, which motion was denied.

In December 1959, Harney moved to reopen the case on the ground that material changes had occurred since the hearing in the physical condition of the property, which motion was also denied.

On December 21,1959, the court issued a mandatory injunction compelling defendant Harney to “forthwith provide any wall, structure, fill or other thing, and perform any act necessary to provide that lateral support which the property . . . belonging to plaintiff . . . had in its natural state prior to the excavation made by said defendant ...” and ordering defendant Paratore to permit defendant Harney to go upon his property to perform the acts required by the mandatory injunction and to reserve such a right of ingress and egress in any deed of the property which he might execute.

In support of this decree, the trial court made findings of fact substantially in accordance with the testimony of plaintiff’s expert.

The court further found that defendant Harney had commenced the excavation without first obtaining a permit from the City and County of San Francisco and that the notice required by section 832 of the Civil Code had not been given to adjoining landowners. The court concluded that defendant Harney had excavated in a negligent manner and had further created a nuisance by removing the support for plaintiff’s land.

*815 Appellant Harney now contends that the order granting the mandatory injunction must be set aside. This contention is sound. Although the evidence presented at the hearing provides more than ample support for the trial court’s finding that appellant was actionably negligent, appellant is correct in pointing out that the court issued the mandatory injunction without requiring a bond in favor of appellant. The rule is well established that a temporary injunction issued pending final determination of a cause must be supported by a bond or undertaking and, in the absence of such a bond, must be dissolved upon application of the party enjoined. (Code Civ. Proc., § 529; Griffin v. Lima (1954) 124 Cal.App.2d 697, 699 [269 P.2d 191]; Neumann v. Moretti (1905) 146 Cal. 31 [79 P. 512].)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
203 Cal. App. 2d 811, 21 Cal. Rptr. 821, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casitas-investment-co-v-charles-l-harney-inc-calctapp-1962.