Joplin Consolidated Mining Co. v. City of Joplin

27 S.W. 406, 124 Mo. 129, 1894 Mo. LEXIS 278
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 9, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 27 S.W. 406 (Joplin Consolidated Mining Co. v. City of Joplin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joplin Consolidated Mining Co. v. City of Joplin, 27 S.W. 406, 124 Mo. 129, 1894 Mo. LEXIS 278 (Mo. 1894).

Opinion

Black, P. J.

The plaintiff corporation brought this suit to enjoin the city of Joplin, a city of the third class having a population of ten or twelve thousand inhabitants, from building a public sewer over certain lands owned by plaintiff. The circuit court made the temporary injunction perpetual, and the city appealed to the St. Louis court of appeals. That court transferred the cause to this court because of certain alleged constitutional questions raised by plaintiff in support of the decree of the circuit court.

There is no dispute as to the following general outline facts of the case: The plaintiff corporation is the owner of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 2, etc., and also other lands north of and adjoining said forty acre tract. These lands are all on the north side of the city, but within the corporate limits thereof. Joplin creek enters the forty acre tract first above described near the southeast corner thereof and runs thence in |a northwest direction to a point near the northwest corner of said tract. There it passes over plaintiff’s land and runs in a general northern direction for the distance of two or three hundred feet and then turns to the east and passes northward over and across the lands of the plaintiff which adjoin and lie to the north of the forty acres firstbefore mentioned.

On the third of September, 1890, the city council [134]*134passed an ordinance numbered 302 establishing a general sewer system according to what is called the Rosewater survey, a survey made by a sanitary engineer as the result of much care and study on his part. The outlet section specified in the survey and ordinance begins at a point near the north line of the forty acres and runs north along the valley of Joplin creek to Turkey creek. It seems the city was unable to build the entire system at one time, so that this Turkey creek section was abandoned for the time being. On the twelth of November, 1890, the council pased another ordinance numbered 342, providing “that a public sewer be established as heretofore provided by ordinance’ ’ across the forty acres, describing the course and boundaries of a strip of land ten feet in width, and declaring that the land so described “is hereby taken and condemned for public use as a part of the said public sewer route and just compensation therefor shall be assessed, collected and paid according to law.” The strip of land thus described begins on and near the middle of the south line of the forty acres and runs thence in a northerly direction to a point near the northwest corner of that tract, where it ends in Joplin creek at a point on the west line of plaintiff’s forty acres. The sewer is to be twenty inches in diameter and will be so constructed as to discharge its contents into Joplin creek at the point where it ends in that creek.

It is alleged in the amended petition that the city, without right or authority, entered upon the forty acres and began the construction of the sewer; that it proposes to build the same over the land without first paying the plaintiff the damages which it will sustain. The answer justifies under proceedings had to condemn the property. The evidence on these issues shows that proceedings to condemn the strip of land were had and the damages assessed at $500; that the plaintiff in [135]*135this suit was served with notice in those proceedings; that the plaintiff appealed from the award to the circuit court; that the award was confirmed by the city council and the $500 paid to the clerk of the circuit court for the plaintiff here, the defendant there. Thus matters stood when this suit was instituted. A change of venue was awarded in those proceedings, and they were still pending when this suit was tried.

From the pleadings and evidence it appears that Joplin creek is fifteen or eighteen feet wide at the point where the sewer will discharge its contents. The banks at and below that point are low, the water shallow, and the course of the stream illy defined. The water has been used for washing lead and zinc ores. On rare occasions the creek becomes dry, but in general there is a considerable body of water flowing down through plaintiff’s land. The plaintiff produced much evidence tending to show that the sewer will pollute the water and render it useless, and that plaintiff’s land on either side of the creek will be damaged by reason of deposits thereon of sewer matter. On the other hand the defendant produced evidence tending to show that the water in the creek is now unfit for any domestic use, and that there is an abundance of water flowing down the same to carry off all the matter which will be discharged into it. In the view we take of this case it is not necessary to enter into the details of the evidence of the character just mentioned.

1. The proprietor of land through which a stream flows can not insist that the water shall come to him in the natural pure state. He must submit, and that, too, without compensation, to the reasonable use of it by the upper proprietors; and he must submit to the natural wash and drainage coming from towns and cities. But a city has no right to gather its sewage together and cast it into a stream so as to injure the lower [136]*136proprietor. For damages thus sustained, the lower proprietor will have an action, and in many instances injunctive relief. Proprietors of Locks, etc. v. Lowell, 7 Gray, 223; Haskell v. New Bedford, 108 Mass. 208; Vale Mills v. Nashua, 63 N. H. 136; Chapman v. Rochester, 110 N. Y. 373; Lewis on Eminent Domain, section 65. The author just mentioned says: “But we see no reason why this could not be done if authorized by law and compensation was made for taking the right to pure water.”

Section 1541, Revised Statutes, 1879, provides: “Public sewers shall be established along the principal courses of drainage, at such times, to such extent, of such dimensions and under such regulations as may be provided by ordinance.” And other sections give the city ample power to condemn private property for sewer purposes, the compensation to be áscertained by five freeholders to be appointed by the mayor. Secs. 1524 and 1544. The fair, and, we think, clear, implication of the language used in section 1541 is that the principal courses of drainage may be used for sewer purposes, until sewers are constructed along the same. Indeed, these courses of drainage constitute the only receptacles for such matter. We, therefore, hold that the city of Joplin has the right and power to construct the public sewer in question so that it will discharge its contents into Joplin creek. Whether the city can do this so as to create a public nuisance we need not inquire, for in our opinion the evidence makes out no such a case. It does, however, tend to show that the plaintiff’s lands will be damaged by the discharge of the sewer matter into the creek. Whether this damage would amount to the taking of private property for public use is not important to inquire; for our constitution declares that private property shall not be taken, or damaged without just compensation. If the [137]*137discharge of the sewer matter into the creek will decrease the value of the plaintiff’s land through which the creek runs, then the damage thus done is clearly within the constitutional provision, and the plaintiff must have compensation therefor. Van De Vere v. Kansas City, 107 Mo. 84.

The question then arises whether this compensation can be awarded to the plaintiff in the comdemnation proceedings still pending in the circuit court.

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Bluebook (online)
27 S.W. 406, 124 Mo. 129, 1894 Mo. LEXIS 278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joplin-consolidated-mining-co-v-city-of-joplin-mo-1894.