St. Louis Trust Co. v. Bambrick

51 S.W. 706, 149 Mo. 560, 1899 Mo. LEXIS 56
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 23, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 51 S.W. 706 (St. Louis Trust Co. v. Bambrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis Trust Co. v. Bambrick, 51 S.W. 706, 149 Mo. 560, 1899 Mo. LEXIS 56 (Mo. 1899).

Opinion

BUEGESS, J.

This suit was commenced by Anna F. McDonald for damages to a small tract of land, and a stone quarry thereon, of which she was the owner, by defendant’s filling up with'dirt on his land the channel of a stream of water which flows through her land, and also through defendant’s, thereby backing the water up and flooding said quarry and land.

The plaintiff recovered a verdict in the sum of $3,000, and after an unsuccessful motion to set the same aside defendant appeals.

Since the case has been pending in this court, Anna P. McDonald has deceased, and the cause revived in the name of the plaintiff as her executor.

After alleging ownership in plaintiff of the land and the quarry, and the nature and character of the stream of water thereon, its. source, channel and course, the petition proceeds as follows: “Plaintiff further states that the said defendant has excavated the ground above the said channel, at a point upon and where it passes under his said premises, and has within sixty days last past filled said channel with dirt, and partially [564]*564obstructed the flow of the said waters through the same, so that the waters from said spring and other waters running through said channel have set back and accumulated to such an extent as to overflow the premises of plaintiff herein, and the same has overflowed the premises of plaintiff herein so that where plaintiff’s premises are excavated and used for a quarry, the same is no longer of any use to the plaintiff for quarry purposes or for any other purposes, and the premises of plaintiff herein, by the act of said defendant, has been filled with water, so that the same is now some twenty to forty feet deep, and the water so accumulated by reason of the overflow is stagnant and the same has injured and destroyed plaintiff’s premises. Plaintiff says that said defendant has wholly obstructed and dammed up the said water course and stream, so that the water accumulated on plaintiff’s premises can not flow into the Marie Castor creek from the stream aforesaid, and the said water has become foul, polluted and poisonous, and has destroyed the use of the said quarry of plaintiff herein and also the land owned by plaintiff herein.”

It then concludes with a prayer for judgment for twenty thousand dollars damages.

The answer is a general denial.

The facts as disclosed by the record are about as follow:

Mrs. McDonald was at the time of the grievance complained of, and at the commencement of this suit, the owner and in possession of lot fifty-two of suburb Cote Brilliant© in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, as described in the petition, and defendant was the owner of and in possession of lot forty-seven and part of lot forty-eight of suburb Cote Brilliants as described in the petition. At said time Giles F. Filley was the owner of and in possession of lots fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight and part of fifty-nine as described in the petition. Prior to 1869 a stone quarry had been opened in the northeastern part of plaintiff’s lot, and the same had [565]*565been worked periodically from that time until about July, 1888, but from July 1, 1888, up to date of the trial it bad never been operated. Plaintiff’s lot fifty-two contained about five and one-lialf acres and the portion used as a quarry was about one-half of an acre. All the surface- water of said lots fifty-two, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight and fifty-nine and the property of Norwood Park Company drained into the quarry of plaintiff, and prior to 1893 the quarry frequently filled with water after heavy rains. In 1893 the defendant operated a stone quarry in the northern part of saidlots forty-seven and forty-eight, and the Marie Castor creek flowed eastwardly along the northern line of said lots. The water from a spring on the land of Giles E. Eilley flowed northwardly in a fixed direction across the land of a corporation known as Norwood Park and into and across plaintiff’s land to a place in the'stone quarry on plaintiff’s land about 700 feet from its source, and there the water became submerged in a crevice in the rock in the bottom of the plaintiff’s quarry. There was evidence tending to prove that the water, after it went into the crevice in the rock in plaintiff’s quarry, came out again in the quarry of defendant about 1,000 feet from the place where it went underground and became submerged on defendant’s land. The evidence for plaintiff tended to prove that the water from said spring had so flowed from time immemorial until, about sixty days before June 24, 1893, the defendant excavated the ground on his tract of land and found the channel through which said water flowed, and partially stopped the flow so that the abandoned quarry on plaintiff’s land filled up with water, and was full of water at the time this suit was commenced. The evidence for defendant tended to prove that the quarry »on plaintiff’s land had filled with water from 1889.

At the instance of plaintiff the court instructed the jury as follows: “A. If the jury believe from the evidence that from time immemorial a stream or water course known [566]*566as the Marie Castor creek, having a fixed, worn and well defined channel, has run and still runs across the property owned by defendant herein, and that the waters of said creek finally drain or flow into the Mississippi river; and that from time immemorial a large spring of water of great volume has risen and still rises in a tract of land owned by Giles F. Filley, adjoining plaintiff’s land, and that said spring of water has flowed and still flows across the land owned by said Filley and across other land into the said tract of land belonging to plaintiff, and from thence into and through a well defined and fixed underground channel under and through St. Louis avenue and into the premises of defendant; that said water flowed through the said channel into the channel of said Marie Castor creek; and that the flow from said spring has been and still is continuous and of great volume, and that the same has worn and established for itself a well defined and known channel and bed for the entire distance from the point where the said -spring rises to where it flowed into the said Marie Castor creek; and that said channel and stream has also carried off and conveyed all surface water and other waters flowing into the same from other sources; and if the jury further find that the said defendant has excavated the ground above the said channel at a point upon and where it passes under his said premises, and has thereby or in any manner interfered with and obstructed the flow of the said water through the same, so that the waters from said spring and other waters running through said channel have been caused to, and have set back and accumulated to such an extent as to overflow the premises of plaintiff, and that by reason thereof the»same have overflown the premises of plaintiff, and thereby caused the quarry on plaintiff’s premises to become, and the same has become, or partially, filled with water and if the jury further find from the evidence that the plaintiff’s said quarry has been injured and the beneficial use [567]*567thereof destroyed by said act of defendant in obstructing the said water course and channel (if you believe from the evidence that defendant did so obstruct it), then the plaintiff is entitled to recover, and you should so find by your verdict.”

The court on its own motion gave the following instruc- ■ tions:

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Bluebook (online)
51 S.W. 706, 149 Mo. 560, 1899 Mo. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-trust-co-v-bambrick-mo-1899.