Gau v. Ley

15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 1, 27 Ohio Dec. 528, 1913 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 85
CourtCourt of Common Pleas of Ohio, Hamilton County
DecidedAugust 7, 1913
StatusPublished

This text of 15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 1 (Gau v. Ley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Common Pleas of Ohio, Hamilton County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gau v. Ley, 15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 1, 27 Ohio Dec. 528, 1913 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 85 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1913).

Opinion

Gorman, J.

This action is one for an injunction to restrain the continuance ,o'f an alleged nuisance. Plaintiffs in their petition set out that they are acting for themselves and for others similarly situated, and say-that they are and have been, for a number of years past, residents and owners of property on May street near Lincoln avenue in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, being a high class, exclusively residential neighborhood; that May street and Lincoln avenue are improved with costly and valuable residences and have been so used exclusively for many years; that the homes on May street from Lincoln avenue south range in value up to thirty thousand dollars. They further allege that the defendants are the owners of several lots fronting on the south side of Lincoln avenue beginning at a point 150 feet east of May street, and in the year 1912 they built upon said lots a factory building within which they have been conducting and maintaining a blacksmith shop, machinery and appliances for handling, shaping and manufacturing structural, architectural and ornamental iron work, and that in the conduct of such business defendants continuously cause loud, disturbing, unusual and disagreeable noises to be made by hammering on iron," riveting iron rivets and shaping, moving and handling iron; that said noises disturb the order and peace and quiet of said neighborhood, rendering conversation and telephone communication difficult, and compelling the plaintiffs and others in the neighborhood to keep their windows closed during the day time, and rendering the premises of the plaintiffs and others in the neighborhood unfit for use and enjoyment in the ordinary manner; that said noises begin at seven o’clock in the morning and continue throughout the entire working day, thereby preventing plaintiffs’ families and those in the neighborhood from enjoying sleep, rest or recreation, or enjoying the use of their premises, and affecting those who are sick in the neighborhood.

Plaintiffs further state that their premises have been greatly impaired and diminished in value, and that if the defendants are allowed to continue the production of these noises, the premises of the plaintiffs and others in the neighborhood will be ren[3]*3dered unfit for residence purposes and plaintiffs will suffer great and irreparable injury.

They therefore pray for an injunction to restrain the defendants from carrying on their business in the manner in which it is alleged they are operating their plant and conducting their business at the present time.

The defendants' have filed an answer admitting that the plaintiffs are and have been for a number of years owners and residents of property on May street near Lincoln avenue, and admitting that the defendants,are the owners of the property on the south side of Lincoln avenue described in the petition, and that during the year 1912 they erected a manufacturing building thereon. They further set up that their factory also abuts on the line of the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern Railroad and the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and that the property on which their said building has been erected was and is not suitable for residence purposes, and that there are a number of business and manufacturing establishments along the line of said railroad and in the vicinity of defendant’s building. They further aver that if there is any extreme, unusual, or disturbing noises in said neighborhood, that the same arise from the operation of said railroads, and not from the operation of defendant’s business. They further aver that they are conducting in said building a plant for the fabrication of structural and ornamental iron; that the appliances and machinery used in such plant are the most modern and approved type and that any noise arising therefrom is not sufficient to disturb the peace and quiet of plaintiffs’ homes. They deny each and every other allegation of the plaintiffs’ petition.

The plaintiffs filed a reply to the answer of the defendants denying all the material allegations of the new matter therein set up.

The ease came on to be heard before the court upon these pleadings and the evidence. There were thirty-four witnesses called by the parties, who testified as to the character, intensity and volume of the noises emanating from the defendants’ plant. It would be neither profitable nor practicable to undertake to dissect and analyze the testimony of the witnesses and other [4]*4evidence in the case, consisting of plats and exhibits. The court will endeavor to state briefly the conclusions of fact and law in the case. The evidenSe discloses that in 1911, or the early part of 1912, the defendants in the case purchased a- strip of property lying south of Lincoln avenue and east of May street, abutting upon the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern Railroad and about 150 feet eastwardly from May street. This property is situated probably 15 or 20 feet above the level of the railroad tracks, which tracks at this point are in a deep declension or ditch just north of the exit from the tunnel near Oak street. Their building fronts on Lincoln avenue on the south and extends southwardly a distance of perhaps 200 feet. It is a one-story building with a pressed brick front and concrete walls in the rear, with large windows which may readily be opened on the east, west and south sides; with a large double door opening on the south end of the building. These windows can be and are kept opened during the summer months and at other times' when desirable. There is considerable machinery in the building, including a twenty-five horse power gasoline engine which furnishes the power for the plant. There is a driveway on the west side of defendants’ plant leading from Lincoln avenue southwardly and around to the rear of the building and quite a large yard space on the south and east sides of the building.

Across the railroad from this plant and on a level with the railroad tracks is a coal tipple, but this coal tipple is seven or eight hundred feet away from the nearest residence on May street or Lincoln avenue. Two squares north of-Lincoln avenue, o.n Shillito street, is the lumber yard of the Enterprise Lumber Company, which operates a circuar saw at times, but which makes very little noise and can not be heard ordinarily at the corner of Lincoln avenue and May street. The Banner Baking Powder Company has a plant on Stanton avenue about 1000 feet away from May street, but scarcely any noise whatsoever emanates from this plant. Some noise is made by the coal tipples when coal is unloaded from the cars into the hoppers, and wagons are loaded from the hoppers, but this noise from the coal tipple is not very intense and is scarcely heard on May street.

[5]*5A great many railroad trains pass np and down on the double tracks of the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern Railroad Company with the usual puffing of the engine, rumbling of the trains, ringing of bells and blowing of whistles. These trains have been operated over these tracks for more than thirty years. There is no other manufacturing plant in the neighborhood of the plaintiff’s property or within many blocks of it, excepting those above mentioned.

When the defendants were about to erect their plant, several of the residents on May street and Lincoln avenue sought to prevent it being done, and endeavored to purchase from the defendants the property so as to prevent the erection of this plant, but they were unable either to prevent the plant being erected or to purchase the property from the defendants.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 1, 27 Ohio Dec. 528, 1913 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gau-v-ley-ohctcomplhamilt-1913.