Lead v. Inch

134 N.W. 218, 116 Minn. 467, 1912 Minn. LEXIS 642
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 19, 1912
DocketNos. 17,314—(44)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 134 N.W. 218 (Lead v. Inch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lead v. Inch, 134 N.W. 218, 116 Minn. 467, 1912 Minn. LEXIS 642 (Mich. 1912).

Opinion

Brown, J.

These actions were brought to recover damages alleged to have been suffered by plaintiffs in consequence of a nuisance maintained by defendant upon premises adjacent to those occupied and owned by them. They were consolidated on the call of the calendar in the court-below and tried together; the Lead and Schulze actions being submitted to a jury, and the Gazett action to the court, save as to the question of damages.

In the two actions submitted wholly to the jury, verdicts were returned for the respective plaintiffs; in the Gazett action a verdict assessing plaintiff’s damages at the sum of one dollar was returned, and the court therein made findings of fact and conclusions of law, awarding judgment therefor, and directing the issuance of a permanent injunction restraining the further maintenance of the nuisance. The action was dismissed as to defendant Anker. Defendant Inch moved for additional and amended findings in the Gazett case* which was denied in part and granted in part. Defendant thereafter moved for a new trial of all the actions on various grounds, and appealed from an order denying the same.

It is contended on this appeal (1) that the evidence does not justify the verdict of the jury or the findings of the court; (2) that the court erred in certain of its instructions and refusals to instruct the jury; (3) that incompetent evidence was erroneously admitted,-; and (4) that a permanent injunction in the Gazett case was improperly granted.

[470]*470The facts as disclosed, by tbe evidence and findings of tbe court are substantially as follows:

Defendant is a teamster, employing in tbe conduct of bis business a number of borses, wbicb be stables in a barn owned by him and located upon tbe land described in tbe complaint in tbe city of Dulutb. The barn was originally built fifteen or more years ago and of sufficient capacity to stable a limited number of borses. For several years prior to tbe time defendant became tbe owner of tbe barn, it was not in use to any considerable extent, if at all, and bad been practically abandoned as a stabling place, for borses. During this period a large number of people, including plaintiffs, purchased lots in tbe vicinity of tbe barn and erected thereon dwelling bouses, and tbe locality became a thickly settled residence part of tbe city of Dulutb.

Thereafter, and about five years prior to tbe commencement of these actions, defendant purchased tbe property and commenced stabling tbe borses used by him in bis business as teamster, and so continued until some three years before tbe commencement of tbe actions, when be rebuilt and reconstructed tbe barn and so enlarged its capacity as to accommodate about thirty borses. About tbe same time defendant extended bis business, and in addition to borses used in bis team work constantly kept a number in tbe barn for sale. By these improvements in tbe barn it was made into a two-story structure, with room on one floor for thirteen and upon tbe other seventeen borses.

Thereafter tbe court found that defendant allowed tbe barn to be used and kept in such a manner that there emanated therefrom noxious and offensive odors, varying in intensity and offensiveness from time to time, and to such an extent as to cause tbe atmosphere, especially in tbe summer time, to become polluted, wbicb reached tbe bouses and dwellings of plaintiffs, to their annoyance and discomfort; that during said time tbe borses so. stabled, during both tbe night and day time, stamped, pawed, and made loud and offensive noises, to tbe disturbance of plaintiffs and their families; that during said time defendant frequently curried and cleaned bis [471]*471said horses in an alley adjacent to the barn, allowing large quantities of hair, dust, and dirt, to be carried by the wind to and within the houses of plaintiffs, to their annoyance and discomfort; that defendant permitted the accumulation of manure to remain in a wagon upon the premises, which gave off additional offensive odors; that by reason of these facts plaintiffs were deprived of the free and comfortable enjoyment of their property; and that the bam and the manner in which it was kept constituted a nuisance. The court also found that the management of the barn during the last three years of defendant’s occupancy thereof was entirely different than when plaintiffs purchased their property and erected their dwellings thereon.

1. We have examined the record with care, and find therein ample evidence to justify the court and jury in finding the facts substantially as embodied in the foregoing statement. It would serve no useful purpose to discuss the evidence, and we leave .this branch of the case without further comment. That the facts justify the conclusion that defendant’s barn and the management thereof constitute a nuisance for which he is liable -in damages to those who have suffered therefrom is clear. The case is brought by the facts within the provisions of section 4446, B>. L. 1905, which are declaratory of the common law upon the subject, and entitle plaintiffs to the relief demanded.

" 2. The assignments of error challenging certain portions of the instructions to the jury, and the refusal of certain requests, are not sustained. The rules and principles of law upon the subject of both public and private nuisances are well settled, and a general discussion thereof seems unnecessary. 29 Cyc. 1152, et seq.; 2 Dunnell, Minn. Digest, § 7240, and cases cited.

A barn or stable wherein horses or cattle are kept is not a nuisance per se, although it may become a nuisance by reason of its location and the manner in which it is managed and conducted. Albany Church v. Wilborn, 112 Ky. 507, 66 S. W. 285; Joyce, Nuisances, § 202. If the manner in which it is conducted results in noxious odors, disagreeable noises, to the discomfort and annoy[472]*472anee of adjoining property owners, it is a nuisance within the meaning of the law, regardless of the. question whether defendant exercised due care to so manage the property as to avoid results of that nature. Joyce, Nuisances, § 202; Berger v. Minneapolis Gaslight Co. 60 Minn. 296, 62 N. W. 336. In other words, where the business casts off noxious and unwholesome odors, in fact annoying to and impairing the comfort of adjoining property owners, it is no defense to say that it was conducted in a reasonable and proper manner, and that the odors emanating therefrom were such as are ordinarily incident to the business when properly conducted. Pennoyer v. Allen, 56 Wis. 502, 14 N. W. 609, 43 Am. Rep. 728; People v. Detroit, 82 Mich. 471, 46 N. W. 735, 9 L.R.A. 722; Aldrich v. Howard, 8 R. I. 246; Rodenhausen v. Craven, 141 Pa. St. 546, 21 Atl. 774, 23 Am. St. 306; Bohan v. Port Jervis, 122 N. Y. 18, 25 N. E. 246, 9 L.R.A. 711.

There can be no question but that defendant was conducting a lawful business, and it was not per se a nuisance; but the evidence justified the conclusion that the manner in which it was conducted created a nuisance as a matter of law. A careful reading of the charge of the learned trial court impresses us that the rules of law pertinent to the issues presented were clearly and fully stated to the jury. We construe the charge as a whole, and not segregated parts thereof, which, standing alone, might seem incomplete or incorrect. The evidence did not require the submission to the jury of the question covered by one of defendant’s requests, to the effect that, if plaintiffs acquiesced in the improvements of defendant’s barn, that fact should be taken into consideration by the jury in determining the issues involved.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
134 N.W. 218, 116 Minn. 467, 1912 Minn. LEXIS 642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lead-v-inch-minn-1912.