Vana v. Grain Belt Supply Co.

8 N.W.2d 837, 143 Neb. 118, 1943 Neb. LEXIS 58
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 2, 1943
DocketNo. 31522
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 8 N.W.2d 837 (Vana v. Grain Belt Supply Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vana v. Grain Belt Supply Co., 8 N.W.2d 837, 143 Neb. 118, 1943 Neb. LEXIS 58 (Neb. 1943).

Opinions

Paine, J.

Plaintiffs sought an injunction to permanently restrain defendants from operating a ho,g-feeding lot, and in addition asked for damages in the sum of $5,000. Issues were joined and trial had, and judgment entered dismissing plaintiffs’ petition, each party to pay their own costs. Plaintiffs appeal.

The petition discloses that John C. Vana, Jr., and wife, the plaintiffs, are owners of an 11-acre tract in Sarpy county, upon which they reside, and that defendants operate and maintain a hog-feeding lot just north of plaintiffs’ premises; that running through the premises of defendants is a small fresh water creek, fed by a number of springs above defendants’ premises, and which continues through the premises of plaintiffs.

[119]*119The petition alleges that defendants have a large number of hogs, which are fed, among other things, tankage from a rendering plant. It is also alleged that large quantities of decaying and putrid animal matter are dumped 'into this creek daily, causing the stream to become corrupted and rendered unwholesome and impure and unfit for either human or animal consumption; that defendants have permitted decaying and putrid hog dung to accumulate, which is offensive and dangerous to the health of plaintiffs and their family; that unless defendants are restrained they will continue to contaminate the stream and render it unfit for use in the future. Plaintiffs allege that the present operation of said hog-feeding lot constitutes a nuisance and a health menace, and injures plaintiffs in the proper enjoyment of their land and the stream flowing through it; that plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law, since said nuisance is a continuing one; that by reason of the pollution of said stream and the said odors, by which the value of plaintiffs’ property has been depreciated and the use thereof restricted, plaintiffs have been damaged in the sum of $5,000, and they pray for a permanent injunction.

The defendants’ answer admits the ownership of the premises described in the petition, and the operation of the , hog-feeding lot by defendants, and denies all other allegations of the petition. Defendants allege that the Grain Belt Supply Company is engaged in the production, manufacture and sale of anti-hog-cholera serum and hog-cholera virus, and has held a license from the United States department of agriculture for the manufacture and sale of such products since 1914; that said products are necessary for the protection of swine health; that it is necessary in the manufacture of serum and virus to have adequate supplies of pigs and hogs, which must be kept available at a point reasonably convenient to the place of manuf acture; that the manufacturing establishment of Grain Belt Supply Company is located adjacent to the Union Stock Yards, Omaha; that defendants’ hog lot is located on an improved highway in Sarpy county, about 3% miles therefrom.

[120]*120It is further alleged that Omaha is one of the largest live stock markets in the world; that for many years large numbers of cattle, sheep and hogs have been fed at many similar premises within a radius of 2 to 15 miles of said Union Stock Yards; that a number of similar feed lots lie along and adjacent to the stream above the premises of plaintiffs and defendants; that the feeding of large quantities of cattle, sheep and hogs at feed lots such as that of defendants is a proper and necessary part of the marketing of large quantities of live stock; that the above mentioned stockyards and the packing plants located adjacent thereto constitute a major Industry in Nebraska and in that part of Sarpy county in which defendants’ premises are located.

It is also alleged that at all times defendants have kept said feed lot in a clean and sanitary manner, and in as good condition with respect to odors of live stock as is practicable in the operation of a feed lot; that defendants have regularly scraped out said feed lot with scrapers, and employed men to load the refuse upon wagons, and have hauled out each season many loads of manure and spread same upon fields in the vicinity of said feed lot for fertilizer; that the operation of said feed lot has not depreciated the value of plaintiffs’ property and does not constitute a nuisance. Defendants further allege that said feed lot is not within the corporate limits of any city, town or village; that said premises were operated as a feed lot by defendants and their predecessors in title for many years, longer than the period prescribed by the Nebraska statute of limitation relating to real estate.

Defendants further allege that at the time plaintiffs purchased their property in 1934 they knew that defendants were operating their premises as a feed lot, and made no objection thereto; that following the year 1934 defendants have erected valuable improvements on their premises for the purpose of facilitating the use thereof as a feed lot, and that plaintiffs, well knowing that said sums were being so expended, made no protest, and are now estopped to object to the use of said premises by defendants for that purpose.

[121]*121Defendants further allege that on 'October 5, 1940, plaintiffs filed a suit in the district court for Douglas county, complaining of the operation of defendants’ same hog-feeding lot and a rendering plant then located thereon, a copy of the petition being attached as exhibit A, and it was agreed between plaintiffs and defendants that, if defendants would discontinue the operation of the rendering plant, plaintiffs would make no objection to the' operation of the hog-feeding lot and consent that said premises should continue to be operated as a feeding lot in the future; that pursuant to said agreement, a copy being attached to the answer as exhibit B, the defendants, at a large loss in investment in a profitable enterprise, sold, dismantled and disposed of said rendering plant, and fully performed all of the provisions of the agreement; that subsequent thereto the suit of plaintiffs was dismissed with prejudice; that on April 8, 1941,- plaintiffs filed a petition to vacate said order of dismissal and asked that the case stand for trial upon the plaintiffs’ original petition, to which petition a demurrer was interposed by defendants; that said demurrer was sustained on July 7, 1941, and thereafter motion to dismiss was sustained, which judgment has not been appealed from. Wherefore, defendants pray that the petition be dismissed. No reply to this answer appears in the transcript.

On May 18, 1942, the cause having been tried, argued and submitted on briefs, the court, having viewed the premises at the request of parties, found against the plaintiffs and that their petition should be dismissed.

The plaintiffs rely for reversal on the charge that the decision is not sustained by sufficient evidence and is contrary to law, and allege generally that there were errors of law occurring at the trial. Plaintiffs’ first argument is based on the fact that the pollution of the creek running through the premises of the plaintiffs and defendants is unlawful under section 28-1013, Comp. St. 1929, which provides that it is an offense to put filthy substances into running water of which use is made for domestic purposes, and the following section provides that one shall not contaminate creeks [122]*122to the annoyance of others, and shall abate the nuisance within 24 hours, and section 28-1017, Comp. St. 1929, provides that it is an offense to maintain a nuisance which gives off offensive smells and becomes injurious to health, and attention is called to section 37-516, Comp. St.

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Related

Hall v. Phillips
436 N.W.2d 139 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1989)
Moody v. Lundy Packing Company
172 S.E.2d 905 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1970)
Vana v. Grain Belt Supply Co.
8 N.W.2d 837 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1943)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 N.W.2d 837, 143 Neb. 118, 1943 Neb. LEXIS 58, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vana-v-grain-belt-supply-co-neb-1943.