Junction City Lumber Co. v. Sharp

123 S.W. 370, 92 Ark. 538, 1909 Ark. LEXIS 352
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 29, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 123 S.W. 370 (Junction City Lumber Co. v. Sharp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Junction City Lumber Co. v. Sharp, 123 S.W. 370, 92 Ark. 538, 1909 Ark. LEXIS 352 (Ark. 1909).

Opinion

Frauenthal, J.

The plaintiff below, H. G. Sharp, is the owner of a lot in Prescott, Arkansas, which is occupied by him as a residence.

The defendant, the Junction City Lumber Company, owns a block in the same city near the plaintiff’s dwelling house, upon which it has erected and operates a planing mill. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant in the operation of its plant created and maintains a nuisance, which disturbs, annoys, and injures him in the use and enjoyment of his property; and he instituted this suit for the recovery of the damages which he claims he has sustained thereby. The plaintiff is a carpenter, and at the time he bought his lot and built his dwelling thereon the land now occupied by the defendant was then occupied by a furniture factory. This furniture factory was destroyed by fire, and the defendant thereafter purchased the property; and after the erection- and occupancy by plaintiff of his dwelling the defendant built its planing mill on the land acquired by it. This was three or four years prior to the institution of this suit. At the same time the defendant built on this property a shaving pit, which is situated 375 feet from the plaintiff’s house. The plant of the defendant employs about fifty men, and has a capacity of about'30,000 feet of lumber per day. The defendant delivers into the shaving pit by means of a blow pipe large quantities of shavings and sawdust, which are there burned; and these burning shavings and sawdust emit smoke, ashes and cinders, which envelope the plaintiff’s residence, causing discomfort and annoyance in its use and enjoyment. The evidence on the part of the plaintiff tended to prove that the fires have been kept burning for the greater part of each year continuously, during the past three years; that his house was situated in a northeastwardly direction from the pit, and that the winds in that locality blow from the southwest and blow the smoke and ashes towards and upon his property; that the ashes and cinders soil the clothes of his family, and the smoke injures the use and enjoyment of his residence by reason of its discomfort and annoyance. At the request of the plaintiff, the court gave the following instruction: “If you find from the evidence that the defendant built or constructed its sawdust or shaving pits and burns its shavings or sawdust in a place where the smoke, cinders, soot or ashes are blown in on plaintiff’s house in such a manner as to reasonably annoy him and his family and disturb them in the peaceable use and comfortable enjoyment of the same, you will find for the plaintiff.”

“2. If you find for the plaintiff, you will assess his damages at such a sum as will in your judgment be a fair compensation for such annoyance, inconvenience and discomfort as the proof may show he and his family have suffered, if any; and in arriving at the amount you are told that the law lays down no rigid rules, but you are to be governed by your good judgment and reason and sound discretion based on the evidence in the case.”

At the request of the defendant the court gave the following instructions:

“5. You are further told that one who chooses to reside in a city or town near manufacturing establishments cannot be heard to complain of the noise, smoke and confitsion incident thereto in the prosecution of a lawful business in a reasonably careful way. For these annoyances they are compensated by the attendant advantages. So in this case, if you* believe from the evidence that the defendant is lawfully -making a reasonable use of its property, so as to occasion no unnecessary damage to plaintiff, your verdict should be for the defendant.
“6. You are further told that, in passing upon the question as to whether the defendant is liable for damages, if th'e alleged annoyance is only occasional and not- such as to annoy a reasonable person, the defendant would not be liable, although it might in fact annoy the plaintiff.”

The court refused to give the following instructions asked for by the defendant:

“3. You are told that the defendant has the right to run a saw mill or planing mill and to use steam as a motive power, and to burn the shavings; and if in constructing and in using the property it has been guilty of no negligence, your verdict should be for the defendant.”
“4. You are further told that if you find'from the evidence that at the time plaintiff bought the property and built his residence thereon he knew that the lots and block upon which- defendant’s mill is built were appropriated and used for manufacturing purposes and establishments, -he cannot be now heard to complain of the annoyance which arises necessarily from the lawful use of said property for such purposes.”

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $250; and from the judgment entered thereon the defendant presents this appeal. »

1. This action is based upon the right of the plaintiff to recover damages to his property caused by an alleged nuisance maintained by the defendant upon its property. The plaintiff is the owner of a lot upon which is located his residence, and the -value of his ownership depends upon the use and enjoyment of it as a residence. Anything that materially and substantially lessens or destroys that use and enjoyment impairs the v-alue of the property and thus damages the plaintiff. Such acts create a nuisance, and the party who so maintains them to the injury of another is responsible in damages.

In the case of Baltimore & Potomac Rd. Co. v. Fifth Baptist Church, 108 U. S. 317, Mr. Justice Field says: “That is a nuisance Which annoys and disturbs one in the possession of his property, rendering its ordinary use or occupation physically uncomfortable to him.” Any injury to lands or houses which renders them less useful or comfortable is a nuisance. Joyce on Nuisance, § 2; Hilliard on Torts (4th Ed.), 584.

All acts done by one which render the dwelling house of another less fit for habitation, or which materially and substantially prevents its enjoyment in as full and ample a manner as before, will constitute a nuisance. Joyce on Nuisances, § 22; 2 Greenleaf; Ev. p. 427.

The use and enjoyment of property is the essential and valuable element of the right of ownership ; and, wherever the property may be located, its owner has a right to be protected in that use and enjoyment, and to receive damages for an injury thereto. The locality may be considered in determining the extent of that injury, but anything which palpably and substantially annoys and disturbs one in the possession of his property works an injury for which he is entitled to redress, wherever it may be located. Every owner has a right to this protection. It is true, as is claimed by the defendant, that it has also the right to the use and employment of its property. And to obtain that use and employment it has the right to build and maintain on its property any business it may desire, which is lawful; but -that right must be so exercised and the business prosecuted that it does not destroy the right of the neighboring owner to the enjoyment of his property. As is said in the case of Bohan v. Port Jarvis Gas Light Co., 9 L. R. A.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Flippin v. McCabe
308 S.W.2d 824 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1958)
Gulf Oil Corporation v. Vestal
231 S.W.2d 523 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1950)
Oklahoma City v. Eylar
1936 OK 614 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1936)
Oklahoma City v. Tyetenicz
1935 OK 1187 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Oklahoma City v. Hopcus
1935 OK 988 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Oklahoma City v. McAllister
1935 OK 989 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Southern Ice & Utilities Co. v. Bryan
58 S.W.2d 920 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1933)
International Shoe Company v. Gibbs
36 S.W.2d 961 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1931)
Huddleston v. Burnett
287 S.W. 1013 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1926)
Yates v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Company
269 S.W. 353 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1925)
McLeod v. Miller & Lux
153 P. 566 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1917)
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Mackey
129 S.W. 78 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1910)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 S.W. 370, 92 Ark. 538, 1909 Ark. LEXIS 352, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/junction-city-lumber-co-v-sharp-ark-1909.