182 Pa. 257 | Pa. | 1897
Opinion by
The evidence for the plaintiffs in this case tended strongly to establish several conditions as the result of the defendant’s user of the stream as an open sewer. First, that it created an increase in the natural flowage of the stream, so that in times of ordinary rains the banks of the stream were overflowed and the plaintiffs’ land was washed with sewage and offal, and the banks of the stream were broken down and washed away. Second, that considerable quantities of filthy and offensive refuse were allowed to accumulate on the banks and in the stream, and not only to obstruct the flow but to emit disgusting, unhealthy and injurious smells and odors, which extended to such a degree over the plaintiffs’ land and buildings as to render the same uninhabitable and prevent the owners from renting the
We apprehend the same principle would apply to the injury inflicted by allowing offensive and injurious odors and smells to issue from the polluting substances discharged into the stream from the city sewers. We think that the plaintiffs’ testimony was quite sufficient to raise questions of fact on these several subjects to carry them to the jury, and that it was therefore error to grant a compulsory nonsuit. The assignments of error are all sustained.
Judgment reversed and new venire awarded.