International Agricultural Corp. v. Burton

69 So. 417, 194 Ala. 108, 1915 Ala. LEXIS 216
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 18, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 69 So. 417 (International Agricultural Corp. v. Burton) 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
International Agricultural Corp. v. Burton, 69 So. 417, 194 Ala. 108, 1915 Ala. LEXIS 216 (Ala. 1915).

Opinion

MAYFIELD, J. —

Appellee sued appellant to recover damages for injury to growing crops, alleged to have been caused by noxious fumes emitted from the defendant’s factory for the manufacture of commercial fertilizers. The trial resulted in a judgment in favor of the plaintiff for $1,125, from which judgment the defendant prosecutes this appeal.

The complaint was short, and, omitting the formal parts, was as follows: “That during the year 1913 the plaintiff was cultivating under a lease from Jane A. Marks a certain tract of land, comprising 500 acres, more or less, situated in Montgomery county, Alabama, near the city of Montgomery, Alabama, and more particularly described as follows: ‘All that portion of that certain plantation purchased by Jane A. Marks from Adelaide Scott and Michigan S. Scott, her husband, by deed recorded in office of the judge of probate of Montgomery county, Alabama, and known as the Scott Bend plantation, which lies east of the bluff running through said plantation from the Alabama river to the public road known as the River Bridge road, and containing about 500 acres.’

“And plaintiff further alleges that the International Agricultural Corporation during said year 1913 owned and operated a fertilizer factory for the manufacture of commercial fertilizers, situated in close proximity to said land; that during said year 1913 the defendant, in the conduct of said fertilizer factory and in the manufacture of said commercial fertilizers, generated and liberated large quantities of noxious and injurious fumes and gases from its said fertilizer factory, and that said noxious and injurious fumes and gases were of a nature [110]*110highly deleterious and destructive to vegetation, and by reason thereof the plaintiff’s crops of oats, com, cotton, and vegetables which were being cultivated on said land were greatly injured and damaged; and plaintiff alleges that said crops were injured and damaged by reason of and because of said noxious fumes and gases generated and liberated by the defendant.”

There were no special pleas, but issue was joined on this complaint; consequently there are no questions as to rulings on the pleadings. The assignments of error go to rulings in'the admission or rejection of testimony and to the giving or refusing of requested charges or instructions. The rules of law governing the admission of evidence on trials like this have recently been fully discussed by this court and by the Court of Appeals in the cases of International Agricultural Corporation v. Abercrombie, 184 Ala. 244, 63 South. 549, 49 L. R. A. (N. S.) 415, and Bigbee Fertilizer Co. v. Scott, 3 Ala. App. 333, 56 South. 834. For this reason it is not neecssary, and it would serve no good purpose to reopen here the discussion; there being raised on this appeal no new question touching the rulings on the evidence. It is perfectly evident, from an inspection of the record in this case, that the trial court followed the former decisions in its rulings as to the admission of evidence on this trial.

(1) Appellant separately complains as to each of the several rulings of the trial court in overruling its objections to questions propounded to witnesses for the plaintiff and in declining to< exclude the answer to each. Some of these questions were as follows: “If it hadn’t been affected by some unnatural cause, how much, in your opinion, would the land have made to the acre?”

“And aside from your experience as a farmer, if that land is thoroughly cultivated, thoroughly broken, then [111]*111cultivated shallow, and frequently, with 300 pounds of commercial fertilizer to the acre on 200 acres, and. the other 100 acres, presuming it is 300 acres in the tract, and on the other 100 acres several hundred loads of dairy manure, coming from 150 cows, some around his house, some out on the red land, near the plant, how much in your opinion would that land have made on an average to the acre, if it had not been affected by any unnatural cause or causes?”

“Well, if that land was thoroughly broken and had frequent and shallow cultivation, with the season that it had last year, and with 300 pounds of commercial fertilizer to the acre, how much in your opinion would it have produced to the acre, if it had not been affected -by any unnatural causes?”

It was said on the appeal above referred to (184 Ala. 254, 63 South, 552, 49 L. R. A. [N. S.] 415) : “A crop has an actual and also a potential existence, and a fair valuation can be made by witnesses of experience, who are acquainted with the character of the land on which it is growing and the product derived from such land when properly cultivated, the ordinary course of agriculture and the climatic conditions of 'the region, the market price of ripened grain or product in the vicinity when mature, and also how far the crop had progressed toward maturity when injured or destroyed. Consideration may be taken of these and perhaps other conditions in estimating the value of the crop; but these are not measures of value, but only evidence to enable a jury to determine the value of the crop at the time and place of the injury and destruction.”

And again (Id.) that: “In cases of destruction of growing crops, it is proper and important to introduce and admit evidence showing the kind of crops the land is capable of producing, the kind of crops destroyed, the [112]*112average yield per acre of each kind on the land in dispute, and on other similar lands in the immediate neighborhood, cultivated in like manner, the stage of growth of the crops, at the time of injury or destruction, the expenses of cultivating, harvesting, and marketing the crops, and, the market value at the time of maturity, or within a reasonable time after the injury or destruction of the crops; and while all such evidence may be considered by the jury in determining the amount of damages, if any, still the true measure of compensation is the value of the crops in the condition they were in at the time of their injury or destruction.”

If this is the law on the subject — and we think it is— there was no error in any of the rulings on the evidence, and it would do no good to discuss each ruling separately.

(2, 3) The evidence developed that about one-half of the land on which the crops in question were grown was cultivated by the plaintiff with hired labor, and that the other half was cultivated by share croppers; plaintiff furnishing the land, the teams, and one-half of the fertilizer, and the other share cropper furnishing the labor and the other half of the fertilizer, and each to reecive one-half of the crop so produced. Under the rule announced in the cases of Hendricks v. Clemmons, 147 Ala. 590, 41 South. 306; Haynes Co. v. Bell, 163 Ala. 326, 50 South. 311, and Bain v. Hodges, 4 Ala. App. 421, 58 South. 957, as to the crop produced on this half of the land so cultivated on shares, plaintiff was a tenant in common. The evidence did not show, however, what particular part of the land in question was so cultivated.

On the theory that there could be no recovery in this action for the crops of the tenants in common other than the plaintiff, the defendant requested several written charges, as follows: “ (2) If you believe the evidence in [113]*113this case, you cannot find for the plaintiff for any damage to the cotton on the west side of the railroad.

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Related

T. L. Farrow Mercantile Co. v. Riggins
71 So. 963 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 So. 417, 194 Ala. 108, 1915 Ala. LEXIS 216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-agricultural-corp-v-burton-ala-1915.