Oetjen v. Goff-Kirby Co.

38 Ohio Law. Abs. 117
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 15, 1942
DocketNo. 18578
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 38 Ohio Law. Abs. 117 (Oetjen v. Goff-Kirby Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oetjen v. Goff-Kirby Co., 38 Ohio Law. Abs. 117 (Ohio Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

OPINION

By GUERNSEY, J.

The -notice of appeal herein prescribes an appeal on questions of law and fact, and bond has been given perfecting the appeal as an appeal on questions of law and fact. Bill of exceptions, assignments of error and briefs have also been filed herein, perfecting the appeal as an appeal on questions of law.

The appeal is from a'judgment of the Court of-Common Pleas of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in an action pending therein wherein the appellee, William H. Oetjen, was plaintiff, and the appellant, Goff-Kirby Company, was defendant.

There has also been filed herein, the following stipulation as to the trial of this case in this court:

“It is hereby stipulated an dagreed by- and between the parties to this appeal,-by their respective counsel, that: The trial-of •this cause, de novo in the Court of Appeals may be had upon the •facts contained in a bill of exceptions filed in this cause, including the exhibits contained therein, together with a certain stipulation, supplementing said bill of exceptions, and filed in this cause in the Common Pleas Court on the 13th day of February, 1941, save and except the right to trial by jury on the-question of damages is not hereby waived by the plaintiff.”

The petition in this cause, omitting the caption, .signature of attorney, and oath of plaintiff thereto, is in the words and figures following, to wit:

“Now comes the plaintiff and says that the defendant is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Ohio, doing a coal business, and is the owner of three acres of land situated between Collamer St. and Coit Avenue, East Cleveland; that the Euclid frontage is on the level with Euclid Avenue and then takes a sudden drop and continues to slope in a northerly direction.

“Plaintiff further says that he was at the time herein men[119]*119tioned, and is now, the owner of two brick apartment buildings, consisting of twenty-two suites and two wooden buildings .with stalls for five automobiles, situated on the westerly side of Collamer Street, close to Euclid Avenue and adjoining the property of the defendant, and further Known as 1766-70 Collamer Street, East Cleveland, Ohio.

“Plaintiff further says that the defendant caused to be erected, adjoining plaintiff’s property on the west, a spur track extending from the main line of the N. Y. C. & St. L, R. R. Co. which spur track is carried along upon overhead supports and trestle work; that underneath such spur track, and constructed as a part of the overhead supports and trestle work, are large bins into which are emptied the contents of freight cars conducted upon such spur tracks; that such containers are equipped with apparatus which permits the bottoms thereof to' open up and discharge the contents into trucks or vehicles driven in and placed under the bins or containers; that some of the spur track extends southerly up to and adjacent to the property of plaintiff, that the defendant continuously uses such spur track for the receiving and unloading of cars containing all kinds of coal, that the coal is dumped into the bins underneath the spur tracks and from time to time is discharged therefrom into waiting vehicles, that from time to time it dumps all kinds of coal in various places on its-land, that about the year 1937 it commenced dumping and storing all kinds of coal immediately opposite the property of the plaintiff, that the said defendant, through its agents and servants, without regard for the right of the plaintiff, uses and operates such spur tracks, the cars, bins, trucks or other vehicles used in connection therewith, so that plaintiff and his premises are greatly injured and damaged in this, that whenever coal is dumped from a railroad car into the bins, or cars unloaded and dumped onto the premises, or coal loaded into trucks and other vehicles, great clouds of coal dust and soft, small particles of coal arise and fill the atmosphere and descend and fall upon the premises of the plaintiff, that such coal dust and small particles of coal, descending upon his premises, have ruined and destroyed the exterior decorations upon his buildings, and so cover all of his premises that he cannot use part thereof for a garden, and that it is impossible to do any family washing upon the premises, as freshly-washed clothes which are hung out upon a clothesline to dry are soon covered with coal dust from the defendant’s storage coal, that such dust fills the air and penetrates to the interior of plaintiff’s buildings, rendering same undesirable; that a reasonable rental value of his two buildings of twenty-two suites, together with the garages, is $1000.00 per month; that he has been unable to keep the premises rented by reason of the acts of the defendant, as complained of, and as a direct and proximate result of the use the defendant-is making of its premises, plaintiff has suf[120]*120fered a loss by way of decreased, and loss of, rentals from his property in the sum of $3500.00; that he has been further damaged in. the sum of $3000.00; that the use by the defendant of its property in the manner aforesaid, constitutes a continuing nuisance, which,, if not abated, will compel plaintiff to bring actions from time to-time for compensatory damages, and in the meantime, he will be-deprived of the free enjoyment of his property, and that an abatement of such niusance will prevent a multiplicity of suits; that he-has no adequate remedy at law, in that compensatory relief to him. for special damages or loss he has suffered is insufficient, and if' such nuisance is allowed to continue, he will be irreparably damaged.

“Wherefore, plaintiff prays for judgment in the sum of sixty five hundred dollars ($6500.00), and that the court in the exercise-•of its equity jurisdiction, enjoin the' defendant from maintaining -such nuisance and order same abated, and for such other further-equitable relief as this plaintiff may be entitled to.”

To this petition the defendant filed its answer in which it admits its corporate existence, the nature and place of its business as-alleged, and that it is the owner of the land described by the plaintiff, and generally denies the other allegations of the petition.

Upon the trial of the cause in the Common Pleas Court the-parties wáived a jury and submitted the cause to the court, upon, the pleadings and the evidence, upon consideration whereof the-court found for the plaintiff. Motion for new trial was duly filed by the defendant, which was overruled and the court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against defendant, the material part of which judgment is as follows:

“The court finds: that the defendant is a corporation; that both the plaintiff and the defendant are the owners of the property set forth in the petition; that the piling, loading, unloading and the methods and means used in the handling of coal in so far as hereinafter appears only violate the property rights of the plaintiff and constitute a nuisance; that the plaintiff’s right of action for damages is not an adequate remedy, therefore the plaintiff is entitled to an injunction against the defendant as prayed for in his petition, and also entitled to damages.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
38 Ohio Law. Abs. 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oetjen-v-goff-kirby-co-ohioctapp-1942.