Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Alabama, Inc. v. Gadsden Sand & Gravel Co.

27 So. 2d 578, 248 Ala. 273, 1946 Ala. LEXIS 238
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedOctober 10, 1946
Docket7 Div. 846.
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 27 So. 2d 578 (Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Alabama, Inc. v. Gadsden Sand & Gravel Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Alabama, Inc. v. Gadsden Sand & Gravel Co., 27 So. 2d 578, 248 Ala. 273, 1946 Ala. LEXIS 238 (Ala. 1946).

Opinion

*277 STAKELY, Justice.

This is a suit brought by Gadsden Sand & Gravel Company, Inc. (appellee) against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Alabama, Inc. (appellant) for damages by water to a deposit of moulding sand in the land of the plaintiff. There was a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff. Hence this appeal.

The plaintiff owns about 50 to 60 acres of land containing sand deposits adjoining the land of the defendant on which is located the defendant’s manufacturing plant. On the land of plaintiff there is an overburden of dark, sandy loam 6 to 10 inches deep before moulding sand is reached. The moulding sand has a depth of 8 to 12 feet when building sand and gravel is reached. According to tendencies of the evidence water does not damage building sand and gravel but when moulding sand, which is used in pipe manufacture etc., becomes damp or saturated with water, it is worthless while in this condition. Further, ac■xording to tendencies of the evidence, if the moulding sand in the present case becomes worthless, it constitutes too great an overburden over the building sand and gravel to justify the expense of its removal in order to get to the building sand and gravel. The only damage sought in the present action grows out of the alleged saturation with water of the moulding sand on plaintiff’s property.

In 1936 or 1937 defendant erected a dam on its property with only a ditch intervening between the dam and plaintiff’s property. The dam was substantially repaired in 1940 after a break-through. The dam impounded water which formed a pond or lake on defendant’s property. It is claimed that the dam was greatly increased' in size in the spring and summer of 1942. According to the evidence the dam when completed was 900 feet in length and broad enough across the top to furnish a roadway for an automobile. The ■ complaint consists of two counts to each of which the defendant pleaded the general issue and the statute of limitations of one year. (Report of the case will set out counts 1 and 2, omitting from each the legal description of plaintiff’s lands. Count 1 was amended to omit the word “erecting.”)

The claim in each count is for damages resulting from a private nuisance. There is no doubt that the reconstructed dam preventing the natural flow of surface waters from plaintiff’s lands, as alleged in count 1, is a private nuisance. § 1081, Tit. 7, Code of 1940; Nininger v. Norwood, 72 Ala. 277, 47 Am.Rep. 412; Gulf States Steel Co. v. Law, 224 Ala. 667, 141 So. 641; Mobile & O. R. Co. v. Red Feather Coal Co., 218 Ala. 582, 119 So. 606. Furthermore we think that the reconstructed dam impounding the waters of the pond or lake, as shown in count 2, and resulting in seepage or percolation with consequent damage to adjoining property, is also a private nuisance. § 1081, Tit. 7, Code of 1940; Crommelin v. Coxe, 30 Ala. 318, 68 Am.Dec. 120; Wilson v. City of Bedford, 108 Mass. 261, 11 Am.Rep. 352; 38 A.L.R. 1244; 39 Am. Jur. p. 343. See also Terrell v. Alabama Water Service Co., 245 Ala. 68, 15 So.2d 727.

We think it is further clear that xthe erection of the dam under the circumstances constituted a permanent nuisance as distinguished from an abatable nuisance. City of Clanton v. Johnson, 245 Ala. 470, 17 So.2d 669; Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. Mitchell, 161 Ala. 278, 49 So. 851; Crawford v. Union Cotton Oil Co., 202 Ala. 3, 79 So. 299; City of Birmingham v. Flowers, 224 Ala. 279, 140 So. 353; Harris v. Town of Tarrant City, 221 Ala. 558, 130 So. 83; Steinman v. Baltimore Antiseptic Steam Laundry Co., 109 Md. 62, 71 A. 517, 21 L.R.A.,N.S., 885; Vol. 32, Words and Phrases, Perm.Ed., p. 132. Damages for the construction of the dam “are estimated on the hypothesis of an indefinite continuance of the nuisance, and thus affecting the permanent value of the property. In such event, one may not recover in successive suits, but his damages are awarded in solido in one action. * * The damages for the construction of the improvement arc as though it were permanent for that *278 is not abatable. But for an improper or negligent maintenance the rule applicable to an abatable condition has application. Harris v. Town of Tarrant City, supra; City of Clanton v. Johnson, supra. While the cause of action for a permanent nuisance arises on construction of the nuisance, the cause of action for an abatable nuisance “does not arise until the harmful consequences occur and each occurrence or recurrence constitutes a separate cause of action.” — Harris v. Town of Tarrant City, supra; authorities supra.

It appears that damages are sought in each count not only from increase in the size- of the dam, but also from maintenance of the dam in its increased or enlarged condition. These are separate claims, one growing out of injuries from the nuisance in its permanent condition, and the other out of injuries from its abatable condition. The causes of action are different and should not be combined in one count. Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. Mitchell, 167 Ala. 226, 52 So. 69; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Cofer, 110 Ala. 491, 18 So. 110; Iron City Mining Co. v. Hughes, 144 Ala. 608, 42 So. 39.

As demonstrating that the causes of action are different, it is sufficient to point out that, the statute of limitations of one year presents a different defense to each claim. “It is established in this jurisdiction, as appellant asserts as to actions in tort, that separate and distinct torts, inflicting separate and several injuries, each furnishing a separate and distinct cause of action, to which there may be separate and different defenses, may be joined in the same complaint, but should be presented by separate counts. * * Ford v. Henderson, 243 Ala. 274, 9 So.2d 881, 882; Higdon v. Kennemer, 120 Ala. 193, 24 So. 439; Alabama Great Southern R. Co. v. Shahan, 116 Ala. 302, 22 So. 509. The statute runs from the time of the construction of the permanent nuisance but runs from the infliction of the -injury when the nuisance is abatable. Harris v. Town of Tarrant City, supra. Each count was subject to demurrer in this regard.

It is also urged that each count lacks certainty in its allegations of time. It will be noted that the allegations of time with reference to the construction of the dam are neither under a videlicet nor is there anything to show that the plaintiff is unable to be more exact in the allegations of time in this respect. The suit was filed on May 28, 1943. In count 2 the allegation shows that the reconstruction was “in the spring and summer of 1942.” This allegation shows that the reconstruction was a continuous operation and since the work was completed within one year of filing the suit, we think the allegation good. But in count 1 the allegations show that the dam was reconstructed “at various times during the spring and summer of 1942.” Construing the allegations against the pleader, it appears that on each reconstruction there was erected a permanent nuisance and under the allegations some of these changes could have been prior to one year before filing the suit. We think that the allegations in the first count are bad as against the demurrer. Corona Coal Co. v. King, 204 Ala. 223, 85 So. 479; Corona Coal & Iron Co. v. Bryan, 171 Ala. 86, 54 So. 522, Ann.Cas.1913A, 878; Howton v. Mathias, 197 Ala. 457, 73 So. 92; Shields v. Sheffield, 79 Ala. 91; Phillips v. Ash-worth, 220 Ala. 237, 124 So. 519.

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27 So. 2d 578, 248 Ala. 273, 1946 Ala. LEXIS 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodyear-tire-rubber-co-of-alabama-inc-v-gadsden-sand-gravel-co-ala-1946.