National Refining Co. v. Batte

100 So. 388, 135 Miss. 819, 100 A.L.R. 388, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 76
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 9, 1924
DocketNo. 24164
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 100 So. 388 (National Refining Co. v. Batte) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Refining Co. v. Batte, 100 So. 388, 135 Miss. 819, 100 A.L.R. 388, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 76 (Mich. 1924).

Opinion

Ethridge, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellee, Batte, filed' a bill in the chancery court against the appellant, alleging that the complainant had resided for many years in quiet and peace at No. 915 Grand avenue, Jackson, Miss.; that his home and residence fronts northwest, and is just opposite the point of intersection of Grand avenue with West Capitol street in said city; that the two streets intersect at a sharp angle, this forming a triangular tract of land just across Grand avenue, in front of complainant’s house; that the defendant has acquired and is using as a public oil and gasoline filling station this triangular lot; that the erection and use of this filling station has caused the continuous presence of automobiles and auto trucks in and about the complainant’s residence, with their attendant noise and confusion and annoyance, to the complainant’s injury and damage; that the defendant has built and provided a driveway or entrance to said filling station, so as to provide entrance both from Capitol street and from Grand avenue across and through said triangular lot; that said driveway is so placed that the headlights from automobiles and trucks, coming into the filling station for gasoline and oil, at the invitation and solicitation of the defendant, come into said filling station from Capitol street, and at night or in the evening throw their lights directly upon and into the residence of complainant; that Capitol street is the main and principal thoroughfare for automobiles running east and west in said city, and that most of the automobiles which enter said filling station do so from Capitol street; that the lights and glare from such automobiles so using the defendant’s filling station and facilities are after dark directed almost continually upon complainant’s residence, [830]*830to the extent that he is unable to sit or rest upon the front porch of his house with any comfort or pleasure; that said lights or glare from such automobiles penetrate into the interior of said house, and so render it difficult to sleep or to maintain any privacy therein, and have rendered it practically valueless as a home, to complainant’s great damage; that the conditions above described and complained of were caused directly by and at the instance of the defendant in the use of said property as a filling station, and that' the injuries complained of necessarily follow from such use or adaptation by the defendant of said property, and peculiar to and specially suffered by the complainant, and are of a kind and degree distinct from and not sustained or suffered by the general public; that prior to the erection of said filling station complainant, being apprised of the plans of the defendant, protested both to the city of Jackson and to the defendant against the erection of said filling station, but that nevertheless, and with full knowledge of such protest, and in willful disregard thereof, said defendant erected said filling station, and thereby caused the injuries and nuisance'hereinbefore set out; that the acts of said defendant constitute a continuous nuisance to the complainant, and have caused and will continue to cause irreparable injury'and loss to said complainant; that complainant is without adequate remedy at law in the premises.

The bill prays for an injunction against the defendant, to restrain and enjoin it from maintaining said filling station in the manner set out above, and from doing and permitting the injuries and nuisance above described, and prays for a temporary injunction, and that upon final hearing that said temporary injunction be made perpetual, and for an assessment of damages in the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars.

This bill was demurred to on the grounds: First, that there was no equity on the face of the bill; second, that it appears affirmatively from the bill that the defendant [831]*831was in the possession of its property for lawful purposes, and that no cause of' action accrues therefrom; third, that the hill fails to aver such invasion of the complainant’s property as would entitle him to relief under the law; that the defendant Is in no way responsible for the use made of the property owned by it, so long as said use is lawful, and that to grant to complainant the relief sought would be to deprive the defendant of its property without due process of law. The demurrer was overruled, and an appeal granted to this court to settle the principles.

It is argued by the appellant that the damages suffered by the defendant are merely such as result from city life, and especially under modem conditions; that its business as a filling station is not a nuisance per se, and therefore cannot be controlled by the court. The damages alleged in complainant’s bill are not merely such as result from city life and the use of the streets by automobiles, but under the allegations of the bill are the result of an invasion of complainant’s premises by reason of throwing the lights and glare from the headlights of automobiles upon and into his house in a different degree and in a different manner from what we would suffer from the use of the streets in the ordinary and customary use thereof by automobiles and other vehicles. The bill alleges that the driveway of the defendant’s filling station is constructed across the lot of defendant from street to street, so that automobiles and auto trucks may approach and enter the filling station in a different way-from that in which the filling station could be approached by the ordinary use of the streets; the allegation being that the driveway is so constructed that automobiles, on entering the filling station from Capitol street and while being served by the filling station, throw their lights directly upon and in to complainant’s residence.

The bill avers that the residence was situated where it is, and enjoyed as a home by the complainant, for many years prior to the erection of defendant’s filling [832]*832station, and that prior to the erection of said filling station complainant protested against the erection of same across the street in front of his residence. While it is true that a filling station is not a nuisance per se, still it may constitute such a use or invasion of another’s property as to cause serious injury, or in some cases almost a complete destruction of a residence as a home and place for rest and sleep.

The right to use one’s property, whether in a city or not, is'not without reasonable limitations. The precise limits of one’s liberty to-do as he pleases with his own property are often difficult to define. Property may not be used to the extent of destroying the value of other people’s property, who have the same right to the use and enjoyment of property as any other owner has. A person living in a city, of course, for the benefits derived from being so situated, must give up some of his rights, and must suffer such inconveniences as only affect the public at large. It is manifest that to construct an approach or entrance across a lot from street to street may occasion an injury. If such approach were laid out as a public street, the damages resulting to the adjacent property owners would be included in a-condemnation proceeding, and the owner would be compensated for such special damage. The opening of such a way, and inviting the public to travel over and upon such right of way, by the private owner 'of the soil, would also inflict the same damage as if laid out by the public.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
100 So. 388, 135 Miss. 819, 100 A.L.R. 388, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-refining-co-v-batte-miss-1924.