Chamberlain v. Missouri Electric Light & Power Co.

57 S.W. 1021, 158 Mo. 1, 1900 Mo. LEXIS 56
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 30, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 57 S.W. 1021 (Chamberlain v. Missouri Electric Light & Power Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chamberlain v. Missouri Electric Light & Power Co., 57 S.W. 1021, 158 Mo. 1, 1900 Mo. LEXIS 56 (Mo. 1900).

Opinion

BHEGESS, L

This is an action by plaintiff against the defendant for fifteen thousand dollars damages to three [6]*6houses owned by her on Olive street in the city of St. Louis.

The petition alleges that defendant is a' corporation organized under the laws of Missouri, and that plaintiff is, and at the times hereinafter mentioned was, the owner and in possession of the following described tract or parcel of land, situated in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, viz., a lot of ground in city block number 900, having a front of sixty-three feet and four and one-half inches on the north line of Olive street, by a depth of one hundred and seven feet and four inches to an alley, on which there are and were at all the times hereinafter stated, three houses numbered, respectively, 1927, 1929 and 1931, Olive street.

Plaintiff states that heretofore, viz., in 1889, defendant took possession of the tract of land situated on the south line of Locust street and extending from Nineteenth to Twentieth streets in said city of St. Louis, and running back southwardly to an alley, and being immediately north of said property of plaintiff, and separated therefrom by the said alley, which runs east and west through said block; and defendant heretofore, viz., in 1889, erected a power house and other buldings, and constructed and erected and put in place, large and powerful engines and other machinery on said ground occupied by it. And ever since their construction and erection defendant has operated said engines and machinery night and day, and in doing so has caused continual loud noises, and has caused a shaking, reverberation, vibration and quivering of the ground in the vicinity and especially of the said ground of plaintiff; and has caused the shaking, reverberation, movement and disturbance of said houses of plaintiff, and by reason of said noises and shaking and reverberation, movement and disturbance of said ground and houses of plaintiff said houses have been injured and damaged, making it necessary to -repair the same from time to time, and continually, ever since defendant constructed and erect[7]*7ed said machinery, as aforesaid, and by reason and in consequence of said shaking, movement and disturbance of said houses, plaintiff has been' compelled to expend and has expended in the necessary repairs of said houses the sum of five thousand dollars.

And said shaking, reverberation and movement of said houses and the ground on which they stand, have cracked, weakened and permanently injured and damaged said houses to the extent and in the sum of five thousand dollars.

And by reason and in consequence of the said noises, and the shaking, vibrating, reverberating, quivering and movement of said houses, it was impossible to rent the same, and they are, and have been, unfit for occupancy and untenantable, and they ■ have been unoccupied and not rented nearly all the time, since defendant erected said machinery. And by reason and in consequence of said houses being rendered untenantable and unfit for occupancy, as aforesaid, plaintiff has been deprived of, and has lost the income and rental of said property to the extent and in the sum of five thousand dollars.

And plaintiff says that by reason and in consequence of the acts of defendant, aforesaid, she has been damaged in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars. Wherefore she asks for judgment for that -sum and her costs.

To this petition the defendant filed the following:

“Now comes defendant in the above entitled cause, and for its amended answer to plaintiff’s petition states that it admits it is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Missouri. And defendant for further answer and defense to said petition denies each and every other allegation of said petition. Wherefore defendant, having fully answered, prays to be dismissed hence with its costs.
“And for a further answer and defense to said petition defendant states that, whatever injury accrued to plaintiff [8]*8herein by reason of any act or thing complained of in plaintiff’s petition, or upon any cause of action therein- stated, accrued to plaintiff more than five years next before filing her petition herein. Wherefore, defendant says the alleged cause of action stated in plaintiff’s petition was, and is, barred by the statute of limitations; and defendant, having fully answered, prays to be dismissed hence with its costs.”

A trial before the court and jury resulted in a verdict and judgment for defendant from which plaintiff appeals.

The evidence adduced by plaintiff tended to show that the operation of the machinery in the power house of defendant shook the houses of plaintiff, producing vibrations, and causing the windows to rattle, to such an extent that they were untenantable. This evidence extended back for a period of more than five years before the institution of the suit. A number of witnesses testified to the falling of plastering and to the breaking of glass, crumbling of plastering, etc.

John J. Reardon a witness for plaintiff testified that he was in the real estate business and had been for twelve years, and that he had been in one of those houses and noticed that it shook and that the windows rattled as if in a storm, and that the windows all over the house shook, etc. He said if there w-as no shaking the house could have been rented in 1892, 1898 and 1894 at $50 a month, and in 1895 and 1896 at $45 a month.

He was then asked this question: “Now, with the shaking there, as you found it, what do you say to the possibility of renting those houses or keeping them rented at those figures or any other figures?”

Defendant objected to the question, and the court sustained the objection, and plaintiff then and there excepted.

Jeremiah Ryan testified that he was in the real estate business, and that he had been in that business for six years, and that he had been in one of those houses and noticed that [9]*9it shook considerably all over and that the windows shook, and that the chair on which he sat and the floor shook, and that the doors shook, etc. And that if there was no shaking there snch as he found, the fair rental value of the houses, from 1892 to 1897, was $50 a month; and if no shaking, such as he noticed, they could have been kept rented at those figures during that period.

His further examination, by plaintiff, was then as follows: “Now, with the shaking that you noticed, in your opinion, as a real estate man, is it possible to keep those houses rented at anything like the figure you indicated?”

Counsel for defendant objected to the question, and the court sustained the objection and plaintiff excepted.

“Q. I will ask you, under the same conditions, with the shaking going on out there, is it possible to keep them rented at all?”

Defendant objected to the question. The court sustained the objection, and plaintiff duly excepted.

Daniel Shine, a witness for defendant, testified that he knew the house of Mr. Carey, on northeast corner of Twentieth and Olive and immediately west of 1931, and that it was occupied on the first floor as a saloon, and had been for a year, more or less.

Defendant then asked him this question: “Has that house been vacant, to your knowledge, within the last four years?”

Plaintiff objected to the question as irrelevant and immaterial. The objection was overruled and plaintiff duly excepted.

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Bluebook (online)
57 S.W. 1021, 158 Mo. 1, 1900 Mo. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chamberlain-v-missouri-electric-light-power-co-mo-1900.