Dammann v. City of St. Louis

53 S.W. 932, 152 Mo. 186, 1899 Mo. LEXIS 220
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 14, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 53 S.W. 932 (Dammann v. City of St. Louis) 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
Dammann v. City of St. Louis, 53 S.W. 932, 152 Mo. 186, 1899 Mo. LEXIS 220 (Mo. 1899).

Opinion

BRACE, P. J.

The petition, in this case in substance charges, that the plaintiffs are husband and wife, and owners [189]*189■as tenants in fee by the entirety of lot No. 5, in city block 2717 “Gietner Place” in said city, on which was a substantial frame building, No. 2828 Neosho street, with rock foundation as well as necessary fences and out houses, and which was on the fifth of August, 1895, occupied by them and their family as a home. That prior to the injuries herein complained of, the city of St. Louis did locate and place a main water pipe in the public street of said city in front of and adjoining the lot so owned by plaintiffs; but that the said water pipe or main was so carelessly and negligently, by the servants and employees of the said city in charge of the work of placing the same, laid or placed in and upon said street, that the same rested upon freshly filled and soft ground, without any adequate support to prevent the same from sinking and becoming leaky at and near a point opposite to plaintiffs’ said premises. And that the said defendant’s officers and agents well knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care and caution could have known, that said water pipe, so placed by them, was in danger at any time of sinking and springing leaks at the joints thereof or elsewhere.

That the defendant did so -carelessly and negligently maintain or keep the said water pipé, and did so carelessly and negligently fail to inspect or repair the same, that on or about the fifth day of August, 1895, the said main water-pipe did sink, become leaky and burst, through the causes aforesaid, and thereupon large quantities of water were discharged from said pipe into the said loose and filled ground, which quantities of water did find their way and seep into the ground underlying plaintiffs’ said house and did completely soften and undermine the foundation thereof, so that on or about said fifth day of August, 1895, plaintiffs’ said, house did suddenly collapse and fall, almost entirely destroying the same, and also destroying the furniture hereinafter mentioned, and compelling plaintiffs and their family [190]*190to suddenly flee therefrom to save themselves and some of their said property.

That thereupon the said defendant, the city of St. Louis, admitting and recognizing its said carelessness in the premises, as well as the responsibility for the damage and injury inflicted upon plaintiffs, did attempt to replace; re-erect and repair the said building and house of plaintiffs and restore it to its former usefulness, but that said city entirely failed in its efforts so to replace the same, in that the foundation to said building was rebuilt in an entirely unsafe and unsecure manner, permitting the said house to still further sink and become out of repair; in that the defendant failed to replace the chimney on said house as it had theretofore been and failed to properly replace the plastering, painting and other inside finish of said house, or to properly connect the walls, ceilings and roof of said house; or to cause the doors or windows to properly work, so that the said building is now still damaged in the sum of twelve hundred dollars.

That the furniture and personal property of plaintiffs was by and through the fall of said building and the enforced removal therefrom of plaintiffs in saving the same from entire destruction, injured to the extent of $95, and plaintiffs were compelled to pay for so removing the same the sum of $12. That plaintiffs, by reason of their inability to occupy their said home after the injury thereof as aforesaid, have been compelled to pay rent and reside elsewhere, to their damage in the sum of $100.

That plaintiffs have often demanded from defendant their damages as aforesaid, but defendant has wholly failed and refused to pay the same'. Wherefore they pray judgment against defendant for the sum of fourteen hundred and seven dollars, together with interest thereon, and their costs.

The answer was a general denial.

In the course of the trial exceptions were saved to some of the evidence introduced in support of the allegations of [191]*191the petition, and at the close of plaintiffs’ evidence, a demurrer thereto was interposed, overruled and exceptions saved. Exceptions were also saved to the action of the court in rejecting some evidence offered by the defendant. The case was submitted to the jury on instructions, to two of which defendant excepted. They are as follows:

“1. The court instructs the jury that if they find from the evidence that the'flooding of plaintiffs’ premises and the damage to their building and personal property, was caused by a leak in a public water main laid by the city of St. Louis in one of its public streets, and that such leak was directly caused by the negligent and unskillful laying of said pipe by the persons in charge of said work, or the failure on the part of the officers of defendant to exercise ordinary care or prudence in keeping the same in a safe condition, then their findings must be for the plaintiffs.
“2. If the jury find for the plaintiffs, then they will assess to them the difference in value of the building as it stood before the injury, and its value, as the jury shall find the same to have been, after said injury, less the actual value of any improvements or repairs made thereon by the defendant city; and the court further instructs the jury that if they find for tire plaintiffs under other instructions given, they should include in their finding such damage, if any, as they find to have been directly caused by reason of the bursting of the water pipe in question, to any articles of personal property belonging to both plaintiffs together, as well as the reasonable expense of removing the same to a place of safety; and such expense by way of rental, as you may find the plaintiffs were compelled to pay for quarters elsewhere, until the delivery of possession of the plaintiffs’ building by the defendant city,”

The jury returned the following verdict: “We, the jury, find a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs in the sum of $1,000, as follows: $24 for rent, $12 for removing furniture, [192]*192$64 for damages to furniture, $900 for damages to the house.”

From the judgment thereon the defendant appeals. The errors assigned for reversal are: The refusal to sustain the demurrer to the evidence, the giving of its instructions 1 and 3 for the plaintiffs, the admission of illegal evidence for the plaintiffs, the rejection of legal evidence for the defendant, and the refusal to set aside the verdict and grant a new trial on the ground that the verdict was excessive.

(1) That the plaintiffs’ property was injured by the escape of water from defendant’s main line laid beneath the surface of the street on which their property abutted, and that the water escaped by reason of a break in the water pipe, is not disputed. But it is contended that there was no evidence tending to prove that the pipe was negligently laid and maintained, and therefore the demurrer to the evidence ought to have been sustained. William H. Lohman, a witness called in behalf of plaintiff, testified in substance, that he saw the water pipe laid; that it was a six-inch iron water main, in 15 feet lengths. That it was laid beneath the surface of the street, in a trench 5 or 6 feet deep; that the soil in which the trench was dug and on the bottom of which the pipe was laid, was filled or made earth.

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Bluebook (online)
53 S.W. 932, 152 Mo. 186, 1899 Mo. LEXIS 220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dammann-v-city-of-st-louis-mo-1899.