Ritchey v. Lake Charles Dredging & Towing Co.

230 So. 2d 346, 1970 La. App. LEXIS 5623
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 15, 1970
DocketNo. 2959
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 230 So. 2d 346 (Ritchey v. Lake Charles Dredging & Towing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ritchey v. Lake Charles Dredging & Towing Co., 230 So. 2d 346, 1970 La. App. LEXIS 5623 (La. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

CULPEPPER, Judge.

The plaintiffs, Dan A. Ritchey, Jr. and his wife, filed this suit to abate a nuisance and recover damages to their residential premises. Two of the defendants, B & M Materials, Inc. and Zurben Thibodeaux, d/b/a Thibodeaux Shell Yard, operate shell yards on the bank of the Vermilion River opposite plaintiffs’ residence. The other two defendants, Lake Charles Dredging & Towing Company, Inc. and Radcliff Materials, Inc., deliver shells by barge to these shell yards. Plaintiffs contend that the noise and vibrations caused by these operations constitute a nuisance. From an adverse judgment, plaintiffs appealed.

The evidence shows that in 1956 plaintiffs purchased for $5,500 a residential lot, measuring 100 feet front by an average depth of 175 feet, in Bendel Gardens, a beautiful residential subdivision of the City of Lafayette. The rear of the lot borders the Vermillion River, a navigable stream approximately 200 feet in width. During the year 1957, plaintiffs constructed a home, presently valued at about $60,000. Other homes in the subdivision are of comparable value.

At the time plaintiffs purchased their lot in 1956 the land on the opposite side of the river was already being used for commercial and light industrial purposes, including two shell yards. The defendant, Mr. Thi-bodeaux, had started his shell yard about 1954. The yard now owned by the defendant, B & M Materials, Inc., had been in operation very near this same location since about 1948.

Mr. Ritchey testified that when he purchased his lot he knew of the existence of the shell yards and commercial establishments on the other side of the river but did not know that the barges were brought up the river by tugboats at night or that the noise of the entire operation was so annoying. Furthermore, he contends that since 1956 the volume of shells handled by these two yards has increased greatly. The evidence shows that by 1966 the two yards were handling a total of approximately 100,000 cubic yards of shells annually. Barges are unloaded two or three days a week. The average barge load is approximately 1,000 cubic yards.

Mr. Ritchey’s home is located about 60 feet from the river, which means that the [348]*348barge unloading operations in the river are conducted a distance of 150 to 200 feet from plaintiffs’ home. The operations of reloading the shells onto trucks at the shell piles on the bank of the river are 250 to 300 feet from plaintiffs’ home.

Depending on the heighth of the water in the river, from one to three barges are brought up the river by tugboats, usually at night. The tugboats have large marine engines, powerful search lights and public address systems to give instructions to the crews handling the barges. When they arrive at the shell yards, the barges are positioned by the tug against the bank where they can be unloaded the next morning by a crane with a scoop bucket, mounted on a spud barge.

Although plaintiff and some of his witnesses testified that operations to unload the barges started about 6:00 a.m. and sometimes continued even after hours or darkness, the trial judge found as a fact that the barges were usually unloaded between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., except on emergency occasions. The trial judge also found that operations are usually conducted during week days and not on the week end.

The trial judge also found that the reloading of shells onto trucks at the yards if conducted from about 6:30 or 7:00 a. m. until 5:00 or 5:30 p. m., Monday through Friday. A front-end loader is used by one of the yards. Plaintiffs contend this loader is particularly noisy.

Plaintiffs complain about the noises caused by the straining of the tugboat motors, the* motors on the spud barge, the motors of the crane, the squeaking of the cables and pulleys, the banging of the scoop bucket, particularly when it strikes the metal floor of the barge, the noise of the generators of the tugboats, the noise of the shell yard operations caused by the various vehicles which load shell, particularly the noise of the front-end loader, the search lights on the tugboat, the chatter of the tugboat people over the two-way radio, the music which is played on the tugboats and, generally, the noise of the entire operations. Plaintiffs contend the noise constitutes an unreasonable annoyance and inconvenience to the use of their property as a residence and should be enjoined completely.

Several of plaintiffs’ neighbors testified that the noise of the scoop bucket banging against the barge, the screeching of the cables and pulleys, the motors running, etc. is such that they are awakened early in the morning, cannot carry on a conversation in normal tones, cannot use their patios or backyards and can hardly hear their television. The testimony of these witnesses is indeed impressive as to annoyance and inconvenience during the operations complained of.

Plaintiff also made a tape recording of the noise. The district judge permitted its introduction in evidence for the limited purpose of showing the nature of the noise but not the intensity. We have listened to this tape and can readily understand the reason for plaintiffs’ objections to the nature of the noise, regardless of the intensity. Particularly noticeable is the noise when the scoop bucket strikes the bottom of an empty barge.

On the other hand, defendants introduced testimony to show that the equipment used is of the usual type for such operations and that they operate only during hours of daylight, from about 7:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m., except in emergencies. Also, several witnesses who live in the area testified that they heard the noises but did not consider them to be particularly annoying.

The present suit was filed on August 24, 1964. The evidence shows that a similar suit was filed in 1959 against Thibodeaux Shell Yard and Guarisco Construction Company, which was at the time furnishing shells to Thibodeaux. The 1959 suit ended with letter agreements by defendants stating generally that they would cease operations between 6:00 p. m. and 6:00 a. m., [349]*349except in emergencies and in no event would operate beyond 9:00 p. m. In the present suit plaintiffs contend the time limits set out in the agreements have not been adhered to.

The applicable articles of our Civil Code1 provide generally that although the owner of real property may do with it whatever he pleases, he cannot conduct operations which will unreasonably inconvenience his neighbor in the enjoyment of his property.

In discussing the jurisprudence, we deem it appropriate at the outset to point out the distinction between “nuisance per se” and “nuisance in fact”. A nuisance per se is an act, occupation or structure which is a nuisance at all times and under any circumstances, regardless of its location or surroundings, such as a bawdy-house operated in violation of law. A nuisance in fact is one which becomes a nuisance by reason of particular circumstances and surroundings, Hutson v. Continental Oil Company, 136 So.2d 714 (2d Cir.1962); 66 C.J.S. Nuisances § 3, pp. 733-734. In the present case, we are concerned with a nuisance in fact. The operation of these shell barges and shell yards is not a nuisance under all circumstances. Whether it is a nuisance will depend on the facts and circumstances of this particular case.

Our jurisprudence construing the above cited codal articles has. established guidelines for determining whether the operation of a business can be enjoined as a nuisance by the owners of nearby residences.

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Related

Olsen v. City of Baton Rouge
247 So. 2d 889 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)
Ritchey v. Lake Charles Dredging & Towing Co.
233 So. 2d 252 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
230 So. 2d 346, 1970 La. App. LEXIS 5623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ritchey-v-lake-charles-dredging-towing-co-lactapp-1970.