Harford v. Dagenhart

21 Ohio Law. Abs. 308, 1936 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1266
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 27, 1936
DocketNo 362
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 21 Ohio Law. Abs. 308 (Harford v. Dagenhart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harford v. Dagenhart, 21 Ohio Law. Abs. 308, 1936 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1266 (Ohio Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

[310]*310OPINION

By HORNBECK, J.

We then come to a consideration, first, of the case made by the plaintiff upon the charge that the operation of the funeral home in the manner and with the effect' which vrs have heretofore set forth will constitute a nuisance.

There are but three cases in Ohio cited, or which we find upon independent research which are germane to the narrow question presented. They are Koebler et v Pennewell et, 75 Oh St 278, Mosier v Jones, 1 Abs 721 and 801, and Bauer v Huth, 1 Abs 676. The last mentioned case is a Nisi Prius opinion from Hamilton County and the Mosier case was determined in this court in an unreported opinion from Franklin County. These two cases hold:

“An undertaker’s establishment in a residential district is not a nuisance per se.”

Judge Ferneding in the opinion in the Mosier case supports the position of the court upon the authority of Koebler v Pennewell, supra, and among other things says that:

“In the Koebler case the question was presented to the Supreme Court whether or not the establishment there under consideration was a nuisance per se.”

We have examined the Koebler case with care and if it be granted that the question whether or not the establishment there considered was a nuisance per se was preserved the court certainly gave no consideration whatever to it. The only reference to the subject is in the opinion of Judge Crew at pages 285-6, where he said:

“But, on the other hand, if the above finding of the Circuit Court was erroneous and unwarranted, then upon the record, there being no finding that the place was a nuisance per se, nor evidence to support such finding, plaintiffs were not entitled to any relief, and their petition should have been dismissed.”

The prayer of the petition was to restrain the defendants from establishing, keeping, or using in and upon the premises a “morgue.” The Circuit Court based its conclusions of law upon an express finding' that the defendants were not conducting a morgue in violation of §3586-A, Revised Statutes. It is true that the opinion of this court in Mosier v Jones, supra, has weight and effect. However, it does not purport to be an original determination of one of first impression. In fact, the writer of the opinion expresses doubt as to the wisdom of the determination and predicates it upon the law as found to have been enunciated in the Koebler case. But, if Mosier v Jones announces the law it is not decisive of our case because the question here-is not one of nuisance per se, but whether under the proof a nuisance is established. So that, for determination of the proposition which is before us we must look beyond the Ohio case.

Most respectable authority is cited by the plaintiff from Cooley, Torts, 4th Edition, 1932, Vol. 3, page 180, wherein that author epitomises the gist of the decisions in this language:

“By what appears to be the weight of modern authority, however, it is held that the location of such a business (undertaking establishment) in' the residential district is sufficiently objectionable to make it a nuisance.”

We have examined many authorities, some of which we discuss. That an undertaking establishment is not generally a nuisance per se, although it has frequently been so held in exclusive residential districts, seems to be established by the great weight of the iater authorities. It has been so determined in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas. Virginia and Washington. The cases supporting the above statement and upon the general subject “Undertaker’s Estab[311]*311lishment as a Nuisance” will be found collated in 3 A.L.R. 966, 23 A.L.R. 746, 43 A.L.R. 1166, 35 A.L.R. 890, and 87 A.L.R. 1061.

In most of the cases the operation of the undertaking establishment in a purely residential district was held under the facts to constitute a nuisance.

There are certain elements running through the cases considered which without exception have been pronounced so objectionable as to warrant equitable intervention. Some of these are offensive, noxious odors whether emanating from the embalming of dead bodies or from chemicals used therewith; the possibility of movement of flies from establishments, Densmore v Evergreen Camp (Wash.) 112 Pac. 255; lack of proper drainage, possibility of contamination through water supply, the conduct of post mortems, danger of contagion and disease, Goodrich v Starrett (Wash.) 184 Pac. 220; the operation of a morgue, Koebler v Pennewell, supra; if the annoyance is of a real and substantial character and such as impairs the ordinary enjoyment, physically, of the property within the vicinity of the establishment. Pearson & Son et v Bonnie, (Ky.) 272 SW 375.

The slight divergence of holding arises respecting the extent to which the annoyance to plaintiff and residents in the immediate district is esthetic or sentimental, entirely mental or results in discomfort and disquietude of a real and substantial character and such as impairs the ordinary enjoyment of the property and the physical well being of those in the neighborhood. Stoddard v Snodgrass, (Ore.) 241 Pac. 73; Pearson v Bonnie, supra.

The following cases support injunctive relief against the proposed location of funeral parlors as threatened or anticipated nuisances; Higgins v Bloch, (Ala.) 104 So. 429, Id., 112 So. 739; Leland v Turner (Kan.) 230 Pac. 1061, Mildahl v Holberg (N. D.) 214 N. Y. 802; Stoddard v Snodgrass, supra; Dillon v Morgan (Mich.) 211 N. Y.

There has been a definite trend toward the determination that the operation of an undertaking parlor in a residential section is a nuisance, though it is conducted in the usual manner of operating such establishments. In fact, of sixteen reported cases in the United States since 1925, fourteen of them have resulted in the issuance of injunctive relief. A typical case, well-considered, is Street v Marshall (1927) (Mo.) 291 SW 494, where the contention was made that as all questions of communicating disease or fouling the air with noxious or offensive ofcors or gases were removed there could be no finding of a nuisance. The court said:

“In other words, in order for such an establishment to constitute a nuisance, its character must be such as to directly affect the health or grossly offend the physical senses. This position is without support in the decided cases. * * * A careful reading of the cases will disclose that what has been stressed, and * * * made the basis of injunctive relief, is this: Constant reminders of death, such as an undertaking establishment and the activities connected with it, give rise to, impair in a substantial way the comfort, repose, and enjoyment of the homes which are subject to them.”

In Arthur v Virkler (1932) 258 N. Y. Supp. 886, the injunction was granted, restraining the location of an undertaking establishment in a residential district, upon the proof that the resulting injury to the plaintiffs was the mental annoyance or depressing effect upon them and the members of their household, the loss of comfort and enjoyment in their properties and a diminution in the rental value thereof.

In an early leading case, Saier et v Joy et (Mich.), 164 NW 507 it is said:

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Bluebook (online)
21 Ohio Law. Abs. 308, 1936 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harford-v-dagenhart-ohioctapp-1936.