Evans v. MOFFAT

160 A.2d 465, 192 Pa. Super. 204, 1960 Pa. Super. LEXIS 441
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 4, 1960
DocketAppeals, 15 to 39
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 160 A.2d 465 (Evans v. MOFFAT) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. MOFFAT, 160 A.2d 465, 192 Pa. Super. 204, 1960 Pa. Super. LEXIS 441 (Pa. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinions

Opinion by

Ervin, J.,

The plaintiffs in these 25$ cases sought damages for injury to their respective homes caused by noxious and foul smelling gases emanating from mine refuse dumps created and maintained by Moffat Coal Company, a co-partnership (hereinafter called “Moffat”), in the vicinity of plaintiffs’ properties. The cases were consolidated for trial in the court below, which sat without a jury under an express agreement of submission by counsel, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of April 22, 1874, P. L. 109, as amended, 12 PS §688 et seq. A companion case, Waschak v. Moffat, had been tried earlier before a judge and jury and had resulted in a verdict for plaintiffs. Moffat appealed and we unanimously affirmed, see Waschak v. Moffat, 173 Pa. Superior Ct. 209, 96 A. 2d 163. The Supreme Court reversed and entered judgment n.o.v. for Moffat, see Waschak v. Moffat, 379 Pa. 441, 109 A. 2d 310. At that time these 25 cases were pending in the court below and when the Supreme Court clarified the law, the plaintiffs filed amended requests for findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with the new rule of liability as contained in §822 of the Restatement, Torts, which the Supreme Court had adopted. The Waschalc case had been tried in the court below on the theory of absolute liability. The Supreme Court, however, held that §822 of the Restatement, Torts, was applicable and it then found that the invasion was not intentional nor unreasonable. The defendant in the present cases then filed amended answers to the complaints raising the affirmative defense of res judicata on the basis of the Waschalc decision. The testimony in the Waschalc case was by pre-trial agreement and order admitted into evidence in the present cases, as testimony on the question of defendant’s liability. In addition to this, the trial court took 295 pages of oral testimony of the plaintiffs and their witnesses. The [208]*208trial court made findings of fact from the evidence, all of which supported liability, and then held that the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Waschak case required it to enter judgment for Moffat on the ground that the Supreme Court had said that the gas invasion of plaintiffs’ properties, even if intentional, was not unreasonable. Counsel for Moffat, on the 23rd day following the judgment nisi, filed a praecipe with the prothonotary for judgment for failure to file exceptions within 20 days. The court below, on plaintiffs’ petition, then opened the judgments and permitted the filing of plaintiffs’ exceptions to the earlier entry of judgment nisi for Moffat. Moffat then appealed this action of the court below in these 25 cases to the Supreme Court, see Evans v. Moffat, 388 Pa. 559, 131 A. 2d 141. The Supreme Court held that the judgment was properly opened. In that appeal Moffat’s counsel argued that it would be useless to remand the case for further proceedings because the Waschak decision made such action futile. In the opinion written by Chief Justice Jones this argument was answered, at pages 565, 566, in the following language: “So much would suffice for answer to what these appeals brought up for review except for the appellants’ argument that the decision in Waschak v. Moffat, supra, rules these cases and that it would therefore be a futile gesture to proceed further with them. Since appellants have vigorously pressed this contention — devoting to it the greater part of their brief in this court- — it becomes necessary that we treat with it lest an incorrect inference should be drawn were we to pass over it in silence.

“The decision in the Waschak case is by no means res judicata of the issues in the cases now before us. At least one, if not more, of the requisites of the doctrine is absent. Specifically, there is a patent want of identity of parties plaintiff in the Waschak and other cases. . . .
[209]*209“So far as the decision in the Waschak case has any bearing on the instant actions, it is at most stare decisis as to the applicability of §822(d) of the Restatement, Torts. It does not constitute an adjudication of the facts at issue which, in each case, are for the court below, as the fact-finder, to resolve as well as determine preliminarily what are matters of fact as distinguished from matters of law.”

Upon the return of the cases to the court below, it made further findings that the invasion was unreasonable as well as intentional and found verdicts for the plaintiffs, which were reduced to the total amount of |58,700.00, and final judgments were entered thereon. These appeals then followed.

The law has been clearly defined by our Supreme Court for the trial of these cases. In the Waschak case that Court decided that §822 of the Restatement, Torts, is applicable. This section makes material the question of whether the invasion is intentional. Section 822, Restatement, Torts, is as follows: “General Rule. The actor is liable in an action for damages for a non-trespassory invasion of another’s interest in the private use and enjoyment of land if,

“(a) the other has property rights and privileges in respect to the use or enjoyment interfered with; and
“(b) the invasion is substantial; and
“(c) the actor’s conduct is a legal cause of the invasion ; and
“(d) the invasion is either
(i) intentional and unreasonable; or
(ii) unintentional and otherwise actionable under the rules governing liability for negligent, reckless or ultrahazardous conduct.”

In the Waschak case the Supreme Court did not apply the definition of “intentional” as found in §825, Restatement, Torts. In a later case, Burr v. Adam Eidemiller, Inc., 386 Pa. 416, 422, 126 A. 2d 403, that [210]*210Court did adopt the Restatement definition set forth in §825, which divides intentional invasion into two classes: “(a) where the actor acts for the purpose of causing it; or (b) where the actor knows that it is •resulting or is substantially certain to result from his conduct.” It is with (b) that we are here concerned. It is, therefore, clear that in trespass for nuisance the Restatement, Torts, §§822 and 825, are to be applied. The trial judge’s findings of fact, supported by testimony and sustained by the court in banc, have the force and effect of a jury’s verdict and will not be disturbed on appeal: Reilly v. Magee, 272 Pa. 406, 116 A. 310; Allegheny By-Product Coke Co. v. J. H. Hillman and Sons Co., 275 Pa. 191, 118 A. 900; Fidelity Title and Trust Co. v. Garrett, 327 Pa. 305, 194 A. 398; Arnstein v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 329 Pa. 158, 196 A. 491; Croft v. Malli, 378 Pa. 6, 7, 8, 105 A. 2d 372; Scott-Smith Cadillac Co., Inc. v. Rajeski, 166 Pa. Superior Ct. 116, 70 A. 2d 454; Schlein v. Gross, 186 Pa. Superior Ct. 618, 142 A. 2d 329.

The only real question in these cases is whether the trial court’s findings are supported by the evidence. Finding No.

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Evans v. MOFFAT
160 A.2d 465 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1960)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
160 A.2d 465, 192 Pa. Super. 204, 1960 Pa. Super. LEXIS 441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-moffat-pasuperct-1960.