Weishann v. Kemper

27 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 269, 1928 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1177
CourtHuron County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedNovember 18, 1928
StatusPublished

This text of 27 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 269 (Weishann v. Kemper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Huron County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weishann v. Kemper, 27 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 269, 1928 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1177 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1928).

Opinion

Irving Carpenter, J.

In 1915 defendant Henry Kemper, then nineteen years of age, purchased the land described in the petition as the east half of Lot 345 same being five rods front on west side of Marshall street and eight rods deep. On this lot was a residence which that defendant with his parents and the other members of their family occupied as a dwelling, and in it his parents still live. They had rented and occupied the property a year or so before he bought it. During the war that defendant conveyed the property to his mother, defendant Sarah Kemper, and the title still stands in her name, although Henry Kemper says he is in fact the owner of it and has full control of it.

Next to that property on the north is another lot four rods front and the same depth, on it is an old dwelling [270]*270house which was occupied as a residence until July, 1926, when defendants Henry Kemper and Maudie Kemper purchased it.

Next north of that property is another similar in size, which was purchased by plaintiff about thirty-seven years ago when he erected a dwelling upon it, and there he and his wife have lived ever since and reared their family.

The neighborhood for over two blocks in every direction has always been exclusively a residential section, very largely occupied by families that have lived there many years, one lady across the street having resided there fifty-five years. Nor has there been in twenty-five or more years any change in this character of the locality, nor are there now any tendencies of business or industrial activities to encroach upon this residential section.

When the Kempers moved to this location, the father, Robert Kemper, was more or less engaged as an independent junk 'collector and the son Henry began that work about that time. This consisted in buying old iron, rags, rubber and paper, commonly called junk, and selling it to dealers. The residence lot was used as a headquarters for such collecting and later Henry began buying from such collectors in addition to his own collecting, and his stock was stored upon the home lot at times and was there sorted and broken up with hammers and hauled away to cars or other dealers. (There is no railroad contact less than two blocks from the property in question). After a time the scrap iron sometimes covered a good part of that lot, and the rags and papers were and are now stored in an old barn and shed located on the back part of the lot.

About a year ago, with the purchase of the lot to the north, Henry built a seven foot tight board fence across the middle of the new lot and to the west along the north side of it, locating the fence about eighteen inches from Weishann’s line, which is also about ten feet from their kitchen porch and door. In fact this fence surrounds the back part of both lots of Kemper’s, except to the front of the old Kemper lot and in the- rear where the barn and shed are on the line. In this shed on the new lot he has recently installed a very large and powerful machine or [271]*271shears for cutting up the scrap iron into convenient lengths. This is operated by an electric motor. At the time of this hearing the iron which had been cut up with these shears was stacked up around the fence in piles ten to twelve feet high and many feet wide, and Henry said this was about the usual stock on hand. About three men are usually employed about the yard besides Henry and his father, who has a small shop there and does some work breaking up scrap collected by him. These men are engaged from about 7 a. m. to 5:80 p. m. and on exceptional occasions as late as 8 p. m., unloading junk from trucks as it is brought in, in sorting and cutting up and piling the iron and in reloading junk on trucks when it is hauled to the railroad.

Plaintiff by his petition complains that the noise from unloading, breaking up, piling and loading such iron, and the noise and vibration from the operation of the shears, the noisome and obnoxious odors from burning some oil or tar substances, the dust, dirt, soot and smoke that blows on his premises from the junk yards, the rats there harbored that invade his lot, and the menace of flying and falling pieces of iron upon his premises, constitute the use of the defendants’ property as a junk yard a nuisance and he asks to have such use enjoined.

The testimony of the plaintiff and his wife and numerous of the Marshall street neighbors, residing within about five lots distance from the junk yard, is that the noise from the place has been very annoying to them, and especially so since the shears have been put in operation a year ago, which with the vibration they cause, and their incessant grind, is particularly annoying to all these neighbors, especially the women who are usually in their homes during the hours the shears are being operated; that often on Sundays' and holidays loads of junk have been hauled in there, but the machinery is not operated then, nor is much handling of junk done on such days, but oft times there is much pounding there at night, as late as 10 and 11 o’clock. At times in the past soot and smoke have come from the burning of some substances. One of the witnesses says some of it comes from burning off the [272]*272insulation on copper wires, but this is denied by Kemper. Complaints last spring to the city officers improved this annoyance somewhat. At all times when the wind blows, dirt, and dust and iron rust from the junk yard is carried over the neighborhood and interferes very much with drying clothes, keeps porches and porch furniture dirty and even penetrates plaintiff’s house. All complain that rats infest their premises constantly, but some, including the plaintiff have been able to keep them from their cellars. The plaintiff also brings into court numerous pieces of iron which he had picked up in his yard since the junk yard was extended to the adjoining premises a year ago, one quite heavy piece struck Mrs. Weishann when she was in her garden, and one small piece came through the kitchen porch and door into the kitchen. This is preventable and Kemper offers to extend his fence or put a net upon it so pieces of iron cannot get over.

The plaintiff’s claim is that the junk yard is a nuisance. I think it must be coflceded that a junk yard is not a nuisance per se, in fact when properly conducted it is a lawful and we may say a useful business. From the facts found from the evidence to exist and at some length above set forth, two questions of law are presented, the one: Is the manner in which the Kemper junk yard is conducted a nuisance? If not, then the other: Is it a nuisance in that particular location?

In general the method of conducting the business is about, such as is usually employed in that industry. A few of the annoyances such as flying pieces of iron, night and Sunday noises and activities, and the smoke and soot, might be discontinued, but the greatest annoyance, the constant noise and vibration from the shears, and the handling of scrap iron, are inseparable from the business, as are also the dirt, dust and rust, and the rats, and the general unsightliness of the place.

These things in that long established residential neighborhood present a more difficult problem.

The leading case in Ohio on the subject of nuisance of this character is that of Eller v. Koehler, 68 O. S., 51. In that case the plaintiff sought to recover damage for injury [273]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
27 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 269, 1928 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weishann-v-kemper-ohctcomplhuron-1928.