North Dade Water Co. v. Adken Land Co.

130 So. 2d 894, 1961 Fla. App. LEXIS 2784
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 25, 1961
DocketNo. 60-356
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 130 So. 2d 894 (North Dade Water Co. v. Adken Land Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North Dade Water Co. v. Adken Land Co., 130 So. 2d 894, 1961 Fla. App. LEXIS 2784 (Fla. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by the defendants below from a final decree of the circuit court in Dade County enjoining the discharge of effluent from a sewage disposal plant into a certain body of water.1

In a comprehensive decree, the chancellor has stated the facts and his findings and conclusions as follows:

“This cause came on to be heard upon the complaint of the plaintiff and the answers of North Dade Water Co., Inc., and The City of North Miami Beach.

“The substance of the complaint, the material allegations of which were denied by the defendants’ answers, alleges that the plaintiff was the owner of properties known as Second Addition to Myrtle Grove, Plat Book 65, Page 103, upon which there were situated two landlocked lakes, and that the defendants were operating a sewage disposal plant on properties situated north and west of the properties belonging to the plaintiff and discharging the sewage effluent into Myrtle Lake situated upon the defendants’ properties, and thereafter discharging the water and sewage effluent through a conduit constructed by the defendants from [896]*896Myrtle Lake to the landlocked lakes situated upon the plaintiff’s property.

“The gravamen of the complaint was that the acts of the defendants constituted a private nuisance (odors and pollution of plaintiff’s lakes) and a continuing trespass to the irreparable damage of the plaintiff, for which it had no adequate remedy at law.

“At the hearing on the application for a temporary injunction a substantial amount of testimony was taken, such testimony related to the plaintiff’s acquisition of the lands, the price paid therefor, the use to which the property was being put and the irreparable damage resulting if the pollution were to be continued. At the time of the hearing on the application for a temporary injunction the defendants had been discharging effluent into the plaintiff’s lakes for a period of approximately two weeks. Chemists testified that there was a degree of pollution in the plaintiff’s lakes at that time though not to the degree evidenced by samples taken from Myrtle Lake.

“This Court, following the taking of testimony and proofs on the application for temporary injunction enjoined the defendants from discharging its effluent from Myrtle Lake into the lakes situated on the plaintiff’s property. The defendants both took appeals from the interlocutory order granting the temporary injunction. The granting of the temporary injunction was thereafter affirmed and the petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Florida was denied.

“Following the denial of the petition for certiorari the cause came on to be heard before the undersigned Chancellor at which time additional proofs were taken. The testimony taken at the hearing on the application for temporary injunction was considered as part of the record upon the final hearing. From the testimony and evidence adduced the Court makes the following findings:

“1. That the equities are with the plaintiff and against the defendants and the. plaintiff is entitled to the injunctive relief prayed for.

“2. That the plaintiff acquired title to the lands shown on the Plat of Myrtle Grove, Second Addition from North Dade Land Company. North Dade Land Company was represented at the hearing by Nathan Rood, who testified that he was a stockholder in North Dade Land Company, North Dade Water Company and South Broward Water Company, (which is presently operating a water plant on behalf of the City of North Miami Beach as a consequence of a sale which was consummated shortly prior to the filing of this suit.) North Dade Water Company still has a continuing financial interest in the operation of the plant.

“3. The plaintiff is the owner of all of the property shown upon the recorded Plat of Myrtle Grove, Second Addition, by reason of a Warranty Deed from North Dade Land Corp. The defendants have suggested that the plaintiff is not the owner of the lakes, but the Court finds that as it is the owner of the lands surrounding the lake, it is also the owner of the lake bed (Cf. Osceola County v. Triple E Development Company, Fla. [1956], 90 So.2d 600). There is no reservation of title to the lake bed by any instrument offered in evidence, nor is the right reserved to discharge effluent into the plaintiff’s lakes. On the contrary there is a recitation in the dedication on the Plat of the Second Addition to Myrtle Grove, that no use of the lake will be permitted which is obnoxious to the abutting property owners. Contrary to this recitation there is with respect to the plat of the property upon which Myrtle Lake is situated and the sewage disposal plant is erected an express reservation of the right to dump effluent into Myrtle Lake. Nathan Rood was not only a participant in that subdivision, but took part in the preparation of the dedications shown on that plat.

“4. When the initial application was made for a temporary injunction and [897]*897in spite of the fact that the suit was brought very shortly after the defendants had commenced to discharge effluent into plaintiff’s lakes, the chemical analysis at that time showed that a degree of pollution though the pollution at that time was not nearly as great as the pollution in the samples then taken from Myrtle Lake.

“5. At the time of the hearing on the application for a temporary injunction and throughout the final hearing the defendants took the position that the Court should not grant either the temporary injunction or make the temporary injunction permanent because it would result in shutting down of the sewage disposal plant to the damage of many residents who were being serviced by the plant. Following the issuance of the temporary injunction the defendants pumped and are still pumping the effluent through a discharge line north into Snake Creek. At the time the temporary injunction was issued there was evidence in the case that the defendants had previously constructed a discharge line from Myrtle Lake to Snake Creek to the north, but that they were not operating the same because of the expense incident to it and for that reason constructed the natural out fall line into the plaintiff’s lakes. When the cause came on to be heard on final hearing the plaintiff offered in evidence the complaint, answer and final decree entered in Bankers Life & Casualty Company v. North Dade Water Company, Chancery Cause No. 197225, in which case a permanent injunction was entered by a consent decree after the taking of substantial testimony which permanent injunction enjoined North Dade Water Company from dumping effluent from the same Myrtle Lake into canals running through a subdivision known as Carol City. It was as a result of the last mentioned litigation that North Dade Water Company constructed the Snake Creek discharge line. Further at the final hearing it was made to appear by the testimony of Nathan Rood that South Broward Water Company was operating the sewage disposal plant under a contract with the City of North Miami Beach, apart from maintenance and repairs, on a fiat fee basis. The expense in using and operating the Snake Creek discharge line is more expensive, some $4,000.00 per year, than discharging the effluent from Myrtle Lake through the culvert created by the defendant North Dade Water Co. into the plaintiff’s lakes. The additional expense is no excuse or justification for the discharging of sewage effluent from Myrtle Lake into the plaintiff’s lakes.

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Bluebook (online)
130 So. 2d 894, 1961 Fla. App. LEXIS 2784, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-dade-water-co-v-adken-land-co-fladistctapp-1961.