Wishnewsky v. Town of Saugus

89 N.E.2d 783, 325 Mass. 191, 1950 Mass. LEXIS 1037
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedJanuary 4, 1950
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 89 N.E.2d 783 (Wishnewsky v. Town of Saugus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wishnewsky v. Town of Saugus, 89 N.E.2d 783, 325 Mass. 191, 1950 Mass. LEXIS 1037 (Mass. 1950).

Opinion

Ronan, J.

The first action is in tort by the owner of certain premises located in the defendant town to recover for damage which, he alleged, was caused in the fall of 1945 and the summer of 1946 by the action of the town in collecting surface water from its highways into a drain and discharging the water from this drain in such quantities into a natural watercourse or brook which bounded the plaintiff’s land that it caused the brook to overflow and flood the land. Gratiano, the plaintiff in the second action, died after the commencement of the action, and his ad-ministratrix has been admitted to prosecute the action. We shall refer to the plaintiff in this second action as Grati-ano. Gratiano seeks damages for the destruction in the fall of 1945 and the summer of 1946 of large quantities of flowers which he cultivated for the purpose of sale in the Boston flower market. These flowers were planted in certain portions of the land which Gratiano leased from Wishnewsky, the plaintiff in the first case. The cases were heard together by an auditor whose findings of fact were final. In the first case, the judge in the Superior Court ordered judgment to be entered for Wishnewsky and denied the defendant’s motion that judgment be ordered for it. The only appeal by the defendant in that action is from the denial of this motion. The only appeal by Wishnewsky is from an order denying his motion to recommit the auditor’s report. In the second case, the judge granted the defendant’s motion for judgment in its favor, and Gratiano appealed from the allowance of that motion and also from the denial of his motion for judgment.

We consider the first case. The denial of Wishnewsky’s motion to recommit and the denial of the defendant’s motion for judgment were not appealable as neither was an “order decisive of the case.” G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 231, § 96. Each of these appeals brings nothing to this court and both must therefore be dismissed. Richmond Co-operative Association, Inc. v. Gill, 285 Mass. 50, 53. Lawrence [193]*193v. Old Silver Beach, Inc. 303 Mass. 377, 378. Old Mill Point Club, Inc. v. Paine, 308 Mass. 505, 506. This leaves standing the order for judgment for Wishnewsky for damages in the amounts found by the auditor.

We now consider the second case.

The principal contention of the defendant is that the drainage system was installed by public officers for the purpose of draining surface water from certain highways and that the town is not liable for their official acts. The auditor has found that this contention has been sustained by the evidence. If this defence is now available to the defendant, it is decisive of the case. Dupuis v. Fall River, 223 Mass. 73. Blaisdell v. Stoneham, 229 Mass. 563. Ang-lim v. Brockton, 278 Mass. 90. Bradley v. Marlborough, 296 Mass. 253. Harvard Furniture Co. Inc. v. Cambridge, 320 Mass. 227. But liability may be imposed upon a town for the damage sustained by a landowner, due to the flooding of his land, resulting from the discharge of surface water from highways through a drainage system constructed by agents of the town. Hawks v. Charlemont, 107 Mass. 414, 417, 418. Daley v. Watertown, 192 Mass. 116, 118, 119. Ryder v. Lexington, 303 Mass. 281, 288. Gratiano alleged in his declaration and contends that the town is estopped to show that this system was constructed by public officers because of the judgments which were entered against the town in previous actions brought against it by Wishnewsky for damage due to the flooding of his land by reason of the overloading of the brook resulting from the discharge into it of this same drainage system. If the issue now raised by the defendant was settled in this previous litigation, it is not entitled to another opportunity to try out that question. Eastman Marble Co. v. Vermont Marble Co. 236 Mass. 138, 148. James Stewart & Co. Inc. v. National Shawmut Bank, 291 Mass. 534, 546.

We examine the findings of the auditor as to the nature of this previous litigation in order to determine the issues [194]*194which were there decided and settled. The drainage system was installed in 1924 and consisted of several catch basins which were connected with, a pipe which discharged into the brook a short distance above the Wishnewsky premises. From the time Wishnewsky purchased the premises in 1915 and 1917 until shortly subsequent to the completion of this drainage system, there was no flooding of his land. The brook was adequate to carry off the surface water which naturally found its way into the watershed of the brook. The discharge of the eighteen inch drain pipe, which was the outlet of this system, into the brook soon after the pipe was laid overloaded the brook and flooded Wishnewsky’s premises. He brought an action against the town to recover damages, and the jury in 1928 returned a verdict for him. The judgment which followed was paid by the town. ■ A second action was brought by him and terminated in an agreement for judgment in his favor, and the execution which issued was returned to court “satisfied in full.” Doubtless, these were final judgments. Browne v. Moran, 300 Mass. 107. Macheras v. Syrmopoulos, 319 Mass. 485.

The present actions are brought to recover for damage resulting from floodings of the land different from those which furnished the basis for the previous actions brought by Wishnewsky. Where, as here, the plaintiff may bring successive actions for damage to his land due to different trespasses which are not of a permanent character but are intermittent or recurring, his cause of action in each case is the particular trespass for which he seeks recovery for damage sustained by reason of that trespass, and each such trespass constitutes a new cause of action. Hodges v. Hodges, 5 Met. 205, 211. Manning v. Woodlawn Cemetery Corp. 239 Mass. 5, 8. Ryder v. Lexington, 303 Mass. 281, 294. See 75 A. L. R. 519; Prosser, Torts, 91, 92.

In a subsequent action between the same parties on a different cause of action, an estoppel by judgment applies only to all facts which were actually put in issue in the prior action and not to those that might have been tried [195]*195and settled in the previous action. Lesberg v. Lesberg, 260 Mass. 216, 221. Spector v. Callahan, 273 Mass. 293, 295. Sandler v. Silk, 292 Mass. 493, 498. Marcus v. Richardson, 299 Mass. 11, 13. Mellen v. Modern Parlor Frame Corp. 321 Mass. 305, 309. Restatement: Judgments, § 68.

The principle of estoppel by judgment also applies where it is plain that an issue attempted to be raised in the second case was the same issue which was so necessarily involved in the first action that the judgment which was entered therein could not possibly have been entered on any ground other than that this issue was adjudicated adversely to the party later attempting to present it.

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Bluebook (online)
89 N.E.2d 783, 325 Mass. 191, 1950 Mass. LEXIS 1037, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wishnewsky-v-town-of-saugus-mass-1950.