Mullin v. Blumenthal

42 A. 175, 17 Del. 476, 1 Penne. 476, 1899 Del. LEXIS 55
CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedJanuary 7, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 42 A. 175 (Mullin v. Blumenthal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mullin v. Blumenthal, 42 A. 175, 17 Del. 476, 1 Penne. 476, 1899 Del. LEXIS 55 (Del. Ct. App. 1899).

Opinion

Lore, C. J:—

The demurrers of the defendants go to all of the six counts of the declaration of the plaintiffs on the ground of duplicity. In the first count of the declaration the plaintiff avers that on the first day of March, 1897, she owned and resided in the dwelling house in the City of Wilmington, known as number 819 Chestnut street, and that the defendants were possessed of the adjoining messuage or dwelling house separated and divided from the house of said Alice Mullin by a partition or party wall; and then avers as follows, to wit: “ The said defendants, well knowing the premises, but contriving and wrongfully and unjustly intending to injure her the said Alice Mullin, and to deprive her of the use of her said messuage or dwelling house, on or about the seventh day of April, A. D., 1897, to wit, at the city and county aforesaid, so carelessly and negligently pulled down their said dwelling house adjoining the said dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin that they impaired and weakened the said party wall, then and there and thereby causing the same to lean over and away from the said dwelling house of the said [478]*478Alice Mullin, causing great cracks to open in the said dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin ; and the said defendants then and there so carelessly and negligently dug near to the foundation of the said dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin that they caused the same to settle and crack and the plastering to crack and become loose; and so carelessly and negligently removed the joists from the said party wall that they left holes in the same through which the rain beat in and injured the clothing of the said Alice Mullin ; and carelessly and negligently caused great quantities of lime, dust and dirt to fly and come in the said dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin to the great damage and annoyance of her the said Alice Mullin and others with her in the said dwelling house ; and so carelessly and negligently piled great quantities of bricks and building material in front of the said dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin that they prevented her and others residing with her in the said dwelling house from having free and unobstructed egress and ingress to her said dwelling house, by means of which premises the said messuage or dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin continued and still remains weak and dangerous, untenantable and not fit for habitation, and the said plaintiffs after having lived in the said dwelling house for many years were obliged to remove from the same with their family and at great expense to rent another house in which to live, and by means of the several premises aforesaid the said plaintiffs were and are otherwise greatly injured and damnified in the estate of her the said Alice Mullin and in her said messuage or dwelling house, to wit, at New Castle County aforesaid, to the damage of the said plaintiffs of the sum of Two Thousand Dollars and therefore they bring their suit.”

The second, third and fourth counts are substantially the same, alleging, however, as an additional fact, that ‘ ‘ The defendants carelessly and negligently dug down beside the yard of the said Alice Mullin causing the same to cave and fall in.”

The special demurrers to these four counts rest upon the facts, as they allege, that the plaintiffs have joined several separate and distinct causes of action in each count as follows :

[479]*479(1) That the defendants negligently and carelessly pulled down their dwelling house adjoining the dwelling house of Alice Mullin and thereby weakened the party wall between them.

(2) That they dug down near the foundation near the said dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin, causing it to settle and crack.

(3) That they removed the joists from the party wall between the house of the said Alice Mullin and the said defendants, leaving holes in the same through which the rain beat in.

(4) That they caused great quantities of lime, dust and dirt to fall into the dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin.

(5) That they interferred with the ingress and egress to and from the dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin by placing obstructions in front of it.

(6) That they dug down outside of the yard of the said Alice Mullin, thereby causing the same to cave and fall in.

The defendants claim that each one of these six facts constitutes a separate and distinct cause of action and may not properly be joined in one count.

The fifth count sets forth the plaintiffs’ grievance as follows :

“ Nevertheless the said defendants contriving and intending to injure, prejudice and aggrieve the said Alice Mullin and °to incommode and annoy her and her family in the possession, occupation and enjoyment of her said messuage or dwelling house and premises, heretofore, to wit, on or about the seventh day of April A. D. 1897, and on divers other days and times between that day and the day of commencement of this suit, wrongfully and injuriously erected and built a certain building and erection on the said piece or parcel of ground of the said defendants, so being contiguous and near to the said messuage or dwelling house and premises of the said Alice Mullin, as aforesaid, and placed certain machinery, to wit, a steam engine, boiler, beaming-machines and other heavy machinery in the building or erection as aforesaid, and wrongfully and injuriously kept and [480]*480continued and caused to be kept and continued the said building and erection, so erected and made, and the said machinery therein, for a long space of time, to wit, hitherto ; and on the séveral days and times aforesaid, to wit, at the city and county aforesaid, wrongfully and injuriously operated said machinery and exercised and carried on in the said house or building, the trade or business of morocco manufacturers, and caused and procured to be made and manufactured divers large quantities of morocco therein.
‘ ‘By means of which several premises, on the days and times aforesaid, divers noxious, offensive and unwholesome vapors, fumes, smokes, smells and stenches arose and ascended near to, in and about the said messuage or dwelling house and premises of the said Alice Mullin, and divers great noises, jars and vibrations were heard and felt in the same ; and drops of water from the condensation of escaping steam fell like rain over and upon the same, by means of which premises the said messuage or dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin continued and still remains weak and dangerous, untenantable and not fit for habitation, and the said plaintiffs, after having lived in the said dwelling house for many years, were, because of the premises, obliged to remove from the same with their family, and, at great expense, were obliged to rent another house in which to live.”

The sixth count is substantially the same as the fifth.

The special demurrer to these counts is based upon the allegation that the plaintiff has joined in each of said counts several distinct and separate causes of action :

(1) By causing divers noxious, offensive and unwholesome vapors, fumes, smokes, smells and stenches to rise and ascend near to and in and about the dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin.

(2) By causing divers great noises, to be heard in the dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin.

(3) By causing various jars and vibrations to be felt in the dwelling house of the said Alice Mullin.

[481]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 A. 175, 17 Del. 476, 1 Penne. 476, 1899 Del. LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mullin-v-blumenthal-delsuperct-1899.