86 Md. 562 | Md. | 1898
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Andrew Spangler and his wife brought an action against the Susquehanna Fertilizer Company to recover damages caused by an alleged nuisance. Judgment having been rendered in their favor, the defendant appealed.
The declaration averred that the plaintiffs were owners of two lots of ground on each of which there was a dwelling-house; that the plaintiffs and their family lived in one of the dwelling-houses, and kept a store in it, and that the other is rented to tenants from time to time; and that the defendant conducted and maintained a factory for the manufacture of fertilizers, phosphates, manures and compounds; and that from said factory from time to time there arose noxious, noisome, offensive and unwholesome vapors, smoke, and foul and disagreeable odors, and noxious gases, and were spread and diffused over and upon the lots of the plaintiffs, and upon and into the dwelling-houses erected on said lots, and caused great discomfort and annoyance and sickness to the plaintiffs and their family,' and destroyed their furniture, bed-clothes and wearing apparel, and greatly corrupted and polluted the air, and rendered it deleterious to the health of the plaintiffs and their family, and took away from them the reasonable and comfortable enjoyment of the houses as places of abode, and greatly impaired and diminished the value of the dwelling-houses, and the value of the store as a place of business. The defendant pleaded that it did not commit the wrong alleged.
The houses alleged to belong to the plaintiffs, and the factory of the defendant, are situated in Canton, a large and populous village adjoining the city of Baltimore. The evidence showed that one of the lots was owned by the plaintiffs. This lot is at the corner of First street and Eighth avenue. There is no testimony in the record as to the other lot, which adjoins the first one. The evidence for the plaintiffs tended to prove the other facts averred in the declaration. The evidence for the defendant contradicted them and also tended to show that with the exception of a few
The defendant offered three prayers. The Court rejected the first prayer, and granted the other two. The rejected prayer is in these words : “ The jury are instructed that before the plaintiffs can recover under the pleadings in this case, they must believe that the fumes and gas from the
This Court has several times had occasion to consider the rights of a party under such circumstances. An action for a nuisance rests on the same principles as those which support every other action of tort. If the defendant has committed an injury to the rights or property of the plaintiffs he must respond in damages. In Dittman v. Repp, 50 Md. 516, there was an application for an injunction to restrain the defendants from carrying on a brewery on Bond street in the city of Baltimore. It was alleged that they were using steam machinery, which produced a loud and deafening noise, which was so disagreeable and offensive to the complainant and his family, who occupied adjoining premises, that with a due regard to their health and comfort it would be impossible for them to remain in the house. The Court quoting from Lord Chancellor Westbury, in Tipping v. St. Helen’s Smelting Company, 11 House of Lords, 650, said: “ If a man lives in a town, of necessity he must submit himself to the consequences of
Judgment affirmed.