Fields v. Anderson Cattle Co.

396 P.2d 276, 193 Kan. 558, 1964 Kan. LEXIS 407
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedNovember 7, 1964
Docket43,293
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 396 P.2d 276 (Fields v. Anderson Cattle Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fields v. Anderson Cattle Co., 396 P.2d 276, 193 Kan. 558, 1964 Kan. LEXIS 407 (kan 1964).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Hatcher, C.:

This was an action to recover permanent damages for injury to real estate resulting from the operation of livestock feed lots as a continuing nuisance, and for a permanent injunction enjoining the further operation of the feed lots as a nuisance.

The pertinent facts necessary to a determination of the limited issues on appeal may he briefly summarized.

The plaintiffs, husband and wife, purchased a home consisting of three acres located in McClaskey’s Subdivision, fronting on Prairie Avenue, about mile west of the city limits of Emporia, [559]*559Kansas. The purchase was made in 1957. At that time Anderson Cattle Company operated a feed lot one-half mile north of the home site and one block east of Prairie Avenue which was separated and hidden from the home site by a graded railroad track on the south of the Anderson feed lot. The Atchison, T. & S. F. Rly. Co. had two cattle barns located a fourth of a mile to the north of plaintiffs’ home and 4/10ths of a mile east of Prairie Avenue. Occasionally when the wind was in the right direction the plaintiffs would get a whiff of odor from the Anderson feed lot but the same was not annoying to plaintiffs nor did it damage or diminish the value of their property. In the latter part of 1959, the defendant, Cattlemen’s Feed Lot, purchased five suburban tracts consisting of approximately 40 acres which were located to the north and adjacent to the plaintiffs’ home and constructed feed lots for the feeding of large numbers of cattle. At approximately the same time in 1959, the defendant, Blue Stem Feed Yards, purchased land east of Prairie Avenue and the two bams owned by the Atchison, T. & S. F. Rly. Co. and converted the same into an intensified area for the feeding of large numbers of cattle and great numbers of sheep. The Blue Stem property is located directly north of the property purchased by Cattlemen’s Feed Lot. During the same period of time the Anderson Cattle Company expanded their lots one block to the east so that their pens were fronting on Prairie Avenue and expanded their lots 14th mile to the west. Since the two new feed lots commenced operations and the expansion of the Anderson lots, up to the date of the trial, there have been up to 15,000 head of cattle and 12,000 head of sheep fed in the area. As a result plaintiffs have been .subjected to intense odors and flies which have resulted in a nuisance and diminished the market value of plaintiffs’ home.

The plaintiffs brought an action against the defendants; the owners of the feed lots, alleging in their amended petition:

“That as a direct and proximate result of the operation of said feed lots and their knowledgable concurrent acts by the respective defendants above named, as hereinbefore described, the defendants, and each of them, have thereby created a continuing and permanent nuisance against the plaintiffs’ property and will continue to be a nuisance until abated.”

and requesting the following relief:

“Wherefore, the plaintiffs pray for judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $9,000.00; for a permanent injunction enjoining further operation of the defendants’ respective feed lots as a nuisance; that the defendants’ operations are in violation of the Lyon County Zoning Ordi[560]*560nance, 1956, and should be enjoined, that the defendants’ special permits are invalid and issued without proper authority, for the costs of this action and for such further relief as the Court deems just and equitable.”

The issues were framed, the trial court having struck from the original petition plaintiffs’ alleged claim for damages resulting from pain, suffering and mental anguish, and the case was tried to a jury.

At the close of the plaintiffs’ evidence, the trial court sustained a demurrer to the claim for damages against Anderson Cattle Company but took the demurrer to the claim for injunctive relief under advisement. At the close of all the evidence, Anderson Cattle Company’s demurrer to plaintiffs’ evidence was sustained in its entirety.

The jury answered special questions in which it found that the defendant, Blue Stem Feed Yards, Inc., had used its property so as to unreasonably pollute the air in and around plaintiffs’ property with foul, noxious and offensive odors, but to a lesser degree than the defendant, Cattlemen’s Feed Lot, Inc., because of the distance from plaintiffs’ property.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs for damages caused by the continuing nuisance in the amount of $4,500. The amount was assessed $3,000 against the Cattlemen’s Feed Lot, Inc., and $1,500 against the Blue Stem Feed Yards, Inc. No complaint is lodged in this appeal against the verdict so rendered.

The trial court made findings of fact and conclusions of law as to the injunctive feature of the case and concluded that the defendants, Blue Stem Feed Yards, Inc. and the Cattlemen’s Feed Lots, Inc., should be restrained and enjoined from operating their feed lots under their existing maintenance procedure. It granted the defendants one year to abate the nuisance in accordance with the court’s alternative abatement conditions. On June 20, 1963, the court on its own motion, called a hearing to determine whether the defendants, Cattlemen’s Feed Lots, Inc. and Blue Stem Feed Yards, Inc., had complied with the abatement order. It found that the alternative abatement conditions had been complied with and no permanent injunction was entered.

The plaintiffs have appealed. However, they would materially restrict the questions to be reviewed and the result of the appeal. Appellants state:

“These appellants do not quarrel in any respect with the jury verdict, the Answers to Special Questions or the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law [561]*561entered by the Court. The appellants do not request and this appeal should not be inferred as a request for a new trial insofar as the verdict of the jury and die Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law entered by the Court are concerned.
“The appellants, however, do complain and this appeal is brought for the purpose of determining (1) whether the Corut erred in sustaining Demurrer of Anderson Feed Lot and directing a verdict in its favor, (2) whether the Court erred in striking as elements of damages, pain, suffering and mental anguish, (3) whether the Court erred in failing to enter a permanent injunction, and denying appellants an adequate hearing on issue of abatement, a denial of due process, and (4) whether the Court erred in ruling that the Lyon County Zoning Ordinance does not apply to the defendants.”

We will consider the questions.

Did the court err in sustaining the demurrer of Anderson Cattle Company to appellants’ evidence and directing a verdict in its favor?

The appellants call our attention to the rule stated in Turner v. Kent, 134 Kan. 574, 575, 7 P. 2d 513 as follows:

“ ‘If separate and independent acts of wrongdoers combine to produce a single injury, each is responsible for the result, although the wrong of one alone might not have produced the result.” (Gooch v. Gooch, 108 Kan. 416, syl. ¶ 3, 195 Pac. 874. See, also, Farmers Grain Co. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Rly. Co., 120 Kan. 21, 245 Pac. 734.)”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
396 P.2d 276, 193 Kan. 558, 1964 Kan. LEXIS 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fields-v-anderson-cattle-co-kan-1964.