Opinion op the Court by
Reversing in
part and affirming in part.
These are nine of the twenty suits in the Henderson Circuit Court, wherein the plaintiffs sought a recovery against the defendants for various sums in damages, on account of injuries suffered by them, as alleged, by reason of the defendants, who were Henry Kraver, the Kentucky Peerless Distillery Company, and the City of Henderson, creating a nuisance in and along the banks of Canoe Creek, by the discharge from their respective sewers of filth, human excrement and slop from the distillery into the creek, and which they alleged, so poisoned and polluted the water, and poisoned the atmosphere, about their respective places of residence, with nauseating odors, that it rendered the water of the stream unfit for stock water, and diminished the value of their homes and the use of same, and rendered their occupancy of their homes very uncomfortable.
The nineteen suits were consolidated, and heard together by agreement of parties in the court below at the same time by one jury, and the trial resulted, so far as the appellees in the above styled cases were concerned, in a verdict by the jury and a judgment of the court in favor of Geo. F. Smith against the appellants, Henry Kraver and the City of Henderson, in the sum of $380.25, each; in favor of W. W. Mitchell against the appellants, in the sum of $285.18, each; in favor of Z. H. Littlepage, against appellants, in the sum of $251.55, each; in favor of M. F. Smullen, against appellants, in the sum of $380.25, each; in favor of E. B. Wright, against appellants, in the sum of $200.68, each; in favor of L. F. Coffey, et al., against appellants, in the sum of $306.31, each; in favor of Harry Gudgell, against appellants, in the
The appellants, Henry Kraver and the City of Henderson, each filed grounds and made motions to set aside the verdict and to grant them a new trial, which were overruled by the court, and exceptions taken. The appellant, Kraver, also, before filing the grounds for a new trial and entering his motion for same, moved the court to enter a judgment for him non obstante veridicto, which was overruled and to which he excepted. Each of the appellants prayed an appeal from the judgments rendered against them in favor of Martin, and in the other cases above stated,.filed the transcrips, and entered a motion for an appeal from the judgments against them, which motion was passed to the merits.
The appellant, Henry Kraver, set out as his grounds for a new trial: First, because the damages allowed the appellants were excessive and appeared to have been under the influence of passion and prejudice; second, because the verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence; third, because the verdict is contrary to the instructions given by the court; fourth, because the court erred in giving instructions Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, to the giving of which he objected and excepted at the time; fifth, because the court erred in refusing to give instruction “A,” offered by the appellant; sixth, because the court erred in refusing to give a peremptory instruction to the jury in favor of this appellant at the close of all the evidence; seventh, because the court erred in admitting incompetent and irrelevant evidence against him, to which he objected and excepted at the time; eighth, because the court erred in refusing to admit competent and relevant evidence offered by him; ninth, because the court erred in overruling his motion for a judgment in his favor, notwithstanding the verdict; tenth, because the court erred in not rendering judgments in conformity with the verdicts.
The City of Henderson alleged as its grounds for a new trial that the damages were excessive; that the court erred in giving instructions 1, 2, 3 and 4; that the verdicts were not sustained by sufficient evidence; and in admitting incompetent and irrelevant evidence upon the trial; and in refusing competent and relevant evidence offered by it upon the trial.
The city of Henderson, by its answer, traversed the affirmative allegations of the petitions, and in addition
The appellant, Kraver, relied for a defense upon a denial of the allegations of the petitions and of the cross-petition of the city of Henderson against him, and upon the further allegation that Canoe Creek was not a natural water course, but a ditch dug and controlled by the drainage board of the county, and in which the appellees had no riparian rights, and that the injuries complained of were a public nuisance for which appellees had no cause of action, and the further fact that the sewage from his distillery which was complaip<©d of had, since August, 1912, been discharged by a sewer from the distillery into the sewer of the city, and for that reason he was not responsible for any injuries caused by a flow of the slop from his distillery into Canoe Creek.after August, the time of the construction of his sewer and the connection made by it with the city’s sewer.
Appellant, Kraver, also, relied - upon the fact that by a judgment of the circuit court, upon a suit brought by him against the city, which had been rendered enjoining the city from disconnecting his private sewer from the sewer of the city, which he insisted eliminated the contention that he did not have the right to connect his sewer with the city sewer, and to discharge the slop from his distillery into it. He, also, for a defense claimed that he was a mere continuer of the nuisance, and had never been requested to abate it..
The appellees, by amended petitions and replies, claimed that while the city had undertaken to divert its
While the petitions of the appellees sought to recover damages for different periods of time, arising from the length of time they owned or were lessees of their respective lands, and the different times at which their suits were filed, the court, by its instructions, limited their recovery to such time during which each of them was the owner or holder of his respective tract of land, and ceasing at the time of the filing of his suit.
No proof was offered connecting the Kentucky Peerless Distillery Company with having caused any of the injuries complained of, and the court peremptorily instructed the jury to find for it, which, under the instructions of the court, it did.
The evidence offered proved that Canoe Creek was a natural water course, passing through or bordering upon the lands of each of the appellees, but that at some time or other, which the evidence did not disclose, a portion of the stream had been straightened in some places, under a proceeding in the county court, and that the stream was under control, for the purpose of keeping it in repair, and removing obstructions, of the board of drainage commissioners. It' had not been materially altered from its original course, and it does not appear that the stream has been materially changed where bordering on or passing through the lands of the appellees. The proof, also, showed that for several years last past the city of Henderson had three sewers which emptied into the creek, and which carried off a large part of the slop, waste water, filth, contents of closets and baths of
In 1911 the appellant, Kraver, testified that he suggested to Mr. Thompson, the mayor of the city, that it ought to build a sewer from his distillery to Second street, and Thompson promised to do so, but failed to do so, and in 1912 he again suggested to him that the city ought to build the sewer, and he replied that the city had no money to spend for it. Thereafter, on the 23rd day of July, 1912, a notice was served upon him as the president of the distillery company, signed by the secretary and executive officer of the city board of health, notifying and requiring it to abate and remove within thirty days a certain nuisance on its property, and to tap the sewer, saying that the nuisance had been declared by the board of health prejudicial to the public health, and warning him that upon its failure to do this, it would subject him to the penalties imposed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. On the
On the trial the city offered to prove by its charter and by-laws, that the city clerk was without authority to authorize a property owner to connect with the city sewerage system, unless he was the owner of the property abutting upon the sewer, and that the property, which appellant, Kraver, connected by the sewer built by him with the city’s sewer, did not' abut on the city sewer. This proof was objected to and the court' sustained the objection, and refused to allow the city to prove it. The city, also, offered to prove that the city board of health had not condemned anything on the-distilling plant or connected with it, as a nuisance,' and had not authorized the secretary and executive officer of the board of health to serve any notice upon appellant, Kraver, to that effect, or to require the distilling company to connect its property with a city sewer. This was, also, objected to, and the objection sustained. ■
Both of the appellants, the city , and Kraver, insist that Canoe Creek was not, a natural water course, and for that reason the persons through whose lands it ran, or upon whose premises- it bordered, had no riparian rights in it, and hence the court erred in instructing the jury, that one of the elements of damages, to which the appellees were entitled, was the loss of the reasonable use of the waters of the stream for watering their stock, if it was polluted to such an extent tliat it could not be used for that purpose. There is no evidence which disputes the fact of its being a- natural, water course, and has existed there at all times. A portion of .the stream has been straightened, but it has,' nowhere, been taken away from the lands of the appellees, A riparian owner has been defined to be one owning land, which is bounded by a natural water course, of thróugh which a stream flows, and the rights to which such owner'is entitled are appurtenant and' annexed to the land, and' the
The contention that the nuisance created by polluting this stream and poisoning the atmosphere around it, and rendering the houses of the appellees uncomfortable, and causing sickness of the appellees and their families, and rendering the water unfit for stock and other purposes, is a public nuisance for which the appellants are not liable in damages, is not tenable. It has been uniformly held by this court, that the damages resulting from a public nuisance which affects all *.f the public alike, creates no cause of action, which a particular individual may rely upon for damages, for such injuries, but, it has always been held, that one suffering damages from a public nuisance which are special or peculiar to himself, may sustain an action for such injuries. Barr v. Stephens, 1 Bibb., 293; Cosby v. O. & R. R., 10 Bush, 291; L. & N. R. R. v. Cooper, 164 Ky., 489. The damage sought in this action is' the loss of the use of the water from the creek, which is the peculiar property of the riparian owner, and the diminution in the value of his lands and his home by reason of the nuisance, is an injury falling upon the persons, so situated as to necessarily sustain such injury, and do not affect all the public alike.
The claim of a prescriptive right on the part of the appellants to run their sewage into the creek, and for that reason they were not liable in damages for a nuisance created by it, was not allowed by the trial court, and properly so, because there was no evidence offered upon which to base such a claim. The city, upon its part, offered no evidence upon that subject
Proof was introduced by the appellant, Kraver, which tended to show that the distillery operated by him was located near the creek in 1880, and that its slops had been continuously discharged into the creek up to August, 1912, but the proof further shows that the character of the slops, which went into the creek previous to the year 1908 or 1909 did not pollute the waters nor create a nuisance, and it was only the character of the-slops which had gone from the distillery into the creek since 1908, which polluted the stream and created the nuisance complained of.
It has been held that one creating a nuisance is liable to anyone, who is injured by it, but one merely continuing a nuisance, as the purchaser of property, which is a nuisance is not liable until he is requested to abate it. Ray v. Sellars, 1 Duvall, 256; West v. L. & N. R. R., 8 Bush, 406. The proof, however, showed that Kraver created this nuisance or assisted to create it, within five years before the bringing of the suits, by discharging into the creek a different kind of slop, with other ingredients, than that used theretofore, and besides had been sued for the same character of injuries before the bringing of these suits, and hence cquld not claim to be a mere continuer of a nuisance.
In the case of Fertilising Co. v. Hyde Park, 97 U. S., 668; the court, discussing the doctrine of prescription, as applying to a nuisance, which continued from year to year, said: “Every right, from absolute ownership in property down to a mere easement, is purchased. and holden subject to the restriction that it shall be so exercised as not to injure others.” “In such cases, prescription, whatever the length of time, has no application. Every day’s continuance is a new offense, and it is no justification that the party complaining came voluntarily within its reach. Pure air and the comforta
This court, in the case of Ashbrook v. Com’th., 1 Bush, 140, where an indictment, was had against one maintaining a public nuisance in the city of Covington, and it was shown that the nuisance consisted of maintaining a cattle pen and slaughter house, and that it had been so continued for thirty years last past, this court held the conviction proper, and said: “The pursuit of a noxious trade is lawful, so long as’ it does not interfere with the rights of the public, but when it does so interfere with these superior rights, it becomes illegal, and no length of time can justify it, as its exercise is a daily renewal of the offense. ”
In 29 Cyc., 1207, the doctrine is thus stated: ‘ ‘ There is no such thing as a prescriptive right to maintain a public nuisance, and hence prescription is no. defense to a proceeding to abate a nuisance, either by public authorities or by a private individual, or to' an action by a private individual for damages for the injury which he has received, or to an' indictment against the person maintaining the nuisance.”
The motion of the appellant, Kraver, for a judgment in his favor,, notwithstanding the verdict,of the jury, was not based upon any good reason; as the pleadings sufficiently supported the verdict.
Both of the appellants objected to the instructions given, and both of them are insisting that the instructions of the court to the jury were prejudicial to them. Instructions numbers 1,, 2, 3, 5, 6. and 7 were substantially correct and not susceptible of any just criticism, but instruction number four, as given by the court, was prejudicial, at least so far as it related to the appellant, Kraver.. The. appellant, Kraver, plead in his answer that a judgment had been rendered in his favor against his co-defendant, the city of Henderson, in the circuit court of the county, by which it was adjudged that he was entirely within his rights when he connected his distillery by a sewer with the city, sewer, and that the judgment had never been vacated, modified, or set aside, and that he, for that reason, could not be held, liable, f or any nuisance, which was set up. in Canoe
In place of instruction number four, as to Kraver, the court should have, in substance, instructed the jury, that he was not liable, and that it should not find any damages against him on account of any injuries to the appellees, arising from nuisance created in the creek by the discharge of distillery slops, into the creek, after Kraver had, by his private sewer connected the distillery with the sewer, if all of his sewage passed into the city sewer, and did not escape into the creek from any private sewer, of his own, which connected with the creek.
Instruction number four was more favorable to the appellant, city of Henderson, than it was entitled to, and it, therefore, cannot complain of it.
For the reasons herein stated, the judgments of the appellee Martin, against the appellants is affirmed as to the city of Henderson, and reversed as to appellant, Kraver. The motion of appellant, Kraver, to grant an appeal, in each of the other cases, is sustained and the judgments, therein, against him are reversed. The motions of city of Henderson to. grant it an appeal in the other said cases, is overruled. The causes are remanded to the court below with directions to proceed in conformity to this opinion.