McHan v. McMurry

55 So. 793, 173 Ala. 182, 1911 Ala. LEXIS 277
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 9, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 55 So. 793 (McHan v. McMurry) 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
McHan v. McMurry, 55 So. 793, 173 Ala. 182, 1911 Ala. LEXIS 277 (Ala. 1911).

Opinion

McCLELLAN, J.

This bill is by a lower riparian proprietor against the adjacent upper proprietor, and seeks his restraint from the erection of a proposed dam, on his own lands, across a stream coursing through the farms of each. In the third paragraph of the bill must its equity be found, if at all. That paragraph reads:

[184]*184“That defendant erected a dam across said Thacker’s creek and dammed up the creek, and on several occasions said dam broke or washed away, and caused the water to come down said creek with such force and in such volume that it overflowed complainant’s farm, which is and was in cultivation, and washed away the dirt and soil, and washed great gulches or ditches in complainant’s field, and damaged complainant’s farm in the sum of $1,000; and said defendant is now erecting another dam across said creek above complainant’s farm, against the objections of complainant, and is building said dam in such way that it will not hold the water which flows in said creek during the heavy rains, and said dam will break or be washed away, and complainant’s farm will again be overflowed with water, and the dirt and soil will be washed away from said farm, and great gulches or ditches will be washed in said farm, until it will be rendered useless for cultivation, unless the defendant is restrained by this court from erecting said dam.”

Upon hearing (Code, § 4528), a temporary writ of injunction was granted, as prayed. From this order the appeal is prosecuted. Code, § 4531.

The hearing provided by Code, § 4528, is new to our law. So this preliminary inquiry is mooted by the solicitors : Whether, under the new procedure for the issuance of injunctions, all amendable defects will be treated as perfected, consistent with the rule, applicable where dissolution of an injunction, for want of equitv in the bill, was the matter invoking the court’s ruPrg.— Chambers v. Ala. Iron Co., 67 Ala. 353; E. & W. R. R. Co., v. E. T. V. & G. R. R. Co., 75 Ala. 275; L. &. N. R. R. Co., v. Bessemer, 108 Ala. 238, 18 South. 880.

[185]*185One of the two sole grounds for dissolution is the want of equity in the bill. As will be seen from our decisions, the two first cited being among them, it was Avell conceived that motion to dismiss for Avant of equity Avas not, and could not be allowed to become, a substitute for a demurrer. Hence it was held, Avliere the objection rested on the assertion of a Avant of equity in the bill otherwise than by a demurrer, that amendable defects should be taken as cured; the implication being, of course, that objections in that form confessed the bill as so perfected. To Avhat extent the assumed amendment of the bill, so assailed, should go, was again determined, folloAving Seals v. Robinson, 75 Ala. 368, in. Blackburn v. Fitzgerald, 130 Ala. 584, 30 South. 568. No such condition for the assumption of amendments-, made obtains where the issuance of an injunction, upon application of the complainant, is the question for determination. On dissolution, vel non, the respondent is, of course, the movant. On the hearing of the application stated, the complainant is the actor. He can be-aided by no rule of favor, like that of assumed amendment, -to his initial pleading.

The Nebraska court, in Bishop v. Huff, 81 Neb. 729, 116 N. W. 665, dealing with injunctive process, said of complainants: “The court cannot aid their allegations by construction; but, unless their right to the Avrit is made clearly to appear, it must- be denied.” A fortiori, a complainant should be denied assistance by assumed amendment of his bill. His bill must be determined, as to its equity, upon the averments contained in it, unaided by construction and unamplified by assumed amendment. This requirement consists with the view, firmly established in this court, that this extraordinary power should be cautiously and sparingly exercised, and that, in cases of priAmte nuisance, generally, it will [186]*186not be nsed, unless “there is a strong and mischievous case of pressing necessity.” — Rouse v. Martin, 75 Ala. 510, 51 Am. Rep. 463. “Where the injury complained of is not- a nuisance per se, but may become so by reason of circumstances — being uncertain, indefinite or contingent — equity, as we have said, will not interfere. * a rilie 0f universal recognition that in doubtful cases an injunction will always be denied, or dissolved on motion when granted ad interim. A very strong case must therefore be made by the bill, and if there be a reasonable doubt as to the probable effect of an alleged nuisance, either on proof, affidavits, or on the construction of the facts stated in the bill, there will be no interference until the matter is tested by experiment in the actual use of the property.” — Rouse, et al., v. Martin, et al., supra; Amer. T. & T. Co., v. Morgan County Tel. Co., 138 Ala. 597, 604, 605, 36 South. 178, 100 Am. St. Rep. 53; 1 High on Inj. § 742, and note; Rhodes v. Dunbar, 57 Pa. 274, 98 Am. Dec. 221, 224; Lake Erie & W. R. Co., v. City of Fremont, 92 Fed. 721, 730, 731, 34 C. C. A. 625; 2 Joyce on Inj. § 1069, and note.

In the last-cited new and excellent work on the subject of Injunctions, it is pertinently said: “Equity will not afford relief against a merely prospective or threatened nuisance, where the injury is apprehended, doubtful, or contingent. A mere prospect or possibility of future annoyance or damage is insufficient.” From Lake Erie & W. R. Co., v. Fremont, supra, Judge Taft, writing for the Court of Appeals, where it appeared from the bill that the flooding, if concurring, would result in irreparable injury, incapable of adequate compensation in damages, this expression is appropriated: “But it is well settled that an injunction does not issue in such cases unless the probability of [187]*187danger is clearly shown, and the existence of the nuisance clearly made out upon determinate and satisfactory evidence, and that in no case will the chancellor interfere by injunction where the nuisance sought to be abated or restrained is eventual or contingent. * *

The application of the stated principles convinces us that the temporary injunction should not have issued; for, as we construe the bill, presented solely for the injunctive relief indicated, it is without equity. A bill without equity will not support an injunction of any character, under any circumstances. — E. & W. R. R. Co., supra; Bishop v. Wood, 59 Ala. 253.

The presently material averments of the bill assign themselves to two categories, viz., those descriptive of the breaking or washing away of a previously created dam across Thacker’s creek, whereby water, in devastating volume, was caused to rush down on complainant’s cultivated land, washing away the soil, cutting gulches and ditches therein, and entailing damage in the sum of $1,000; and, secondly, those charging that defendant is now erecting another dam that will not withstand floods in the creek, which, breaking, will entail like damage to complainant’s lands.

The relief the complainant seeks is from the anticipated menace of injury to his property, created by the inefficient dam as proposed, and from the apprehended damage to his property consequent upon the breaking of the dam.

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Bluebook (online)
55 So. 793, 173 Ala. 182, 1911 Ala. LEXIS 277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mchan-v-mcmurry-ala-1911.