Case Title: Henderson v. Wade Sand & Gravel Co., Inc.

Citation: 388 So. 2d 900

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1980-08-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
388 So. 2d 900 (1980)
James T. HENDERSON et al.
v.
WADE SAND AND GRAVEL COMPANY, INC., a corporation et al.
79-112.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
August 22, 1980.
Rehearing Denied October 3, 1980.
Earl D. Hendon, Birmingham, for appellants.
James E. Simpson and Reid B. Barnes of Lange, Simpson, Robinson & Somerville, Birmingham, for appellees.
SHORES, Justice.
This action was brought by three Jefferson County homeowners to recover damages for injury caused to their property by the operation of a neighboring quarry. At the close of plaintiffs' case, the trial court directed a verdict in defendant's favor.[1] The plaintiffs appealed.
There are occasions when it becomes necessary to reexamine an existing legal doctrine in the light of changed societal conditions. This case presents such an occasion.
The plaintiffs' houses were constructed roughly fifty years ago, and are located in a residential neighborhood. In 1977, the land on which their houses are situated began to sink, large sinkholes appeared, and their houses began to break up. Investigation disclosed that the sinking of their property was due to the activities of defendant, Wade Sand and Gravel Company, which operated a quarry one-half mile north of plaintiffs' homes. In the course of its operations, the quarry, which began operating in 1957, periodically pumps water from the bottom of its pits, and empties it into a nearby creek. This resulted in ground water being leeched from under plaintiffs' land, leaving large underground cavities. Heavy rains then caused water to flow through the empty cavities at an accelerated rate, destroying the structure of the land beneath plaintiffs' homes, and carrying away much subsoil and surface soil.
In 1969, the U.S. Geological Survey began a study of the sinkhole problem in the Roberts Field area, which includes plaintiffs' homes and the quarry. The defendant cooperated in the study and was allegedly familiar with the contents of the report subsequently published. Plaintiffs contend that the study predicted that damage of the type complained of would occur if defendant continued to pump water from its pits. The trial court refused to admit the study into evidence.
*901 The trial court held that a verdict for the defendant was dictated by the principles enunciated in Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. v. Wilkes, 231 Ala. 511, 165 So. 764 (1936), and Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. v. Wilkes, 236 Ala. 173, 181 So. 276 (1938). (Sloss I and Sloss II.) Those cases adopted and applied the so-called "American rule" of reasonable use of percolating waters, holding that where a landowner who
231 Ala. 511 at 518, 165 So. 276.
As to adjoining landowners, "there is no difference between the duty to avoid surface disturbances and that to avoid drainage of percolating water, since the duty of subjacent support is not existent." Id. The trial court directed a verdict for the defendant because it found that plaintiffs had presented no evidence which indicated that the water pumped by the quarry was other than percolating, or that it was pumped unnecessarily or negligently. While we agree with the trial court that Sloss I & Sloss II articulate the applicable law and require the result reached below, on reexamination of those cases, we are convinced that they must be overruled.
According to C.J.S.:
93 C.J.S. Waters § 86 (1955).
In the eastern United States, the rules as to usage of underground waters have varied according to whether the waters were classified as "percolating water" or as an underground stream. The general rule is that "where a subterranean stream flows in a distinct, permanent, well-known and defined channel, it is governed by the same rules as apply to a natural watercourse on the surface." 93 C.J.S. Waters § 89 (1955). Where there is no definable channel, water is classified as percolating, and a different set of rules has evolved concerning its use. The English rule, which was followed by most of the eastern states in the nineteenth century, was based upon the doctrine "that a man owned from the top of the sky above his land to the center of the earth beneath him." 14 Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute, "Basic Groundwater Problems," 501, 504. The Restatement (Second) of Torts § 857 (1979), Introductory Note on the Nature of Ground Water and Theories Concerning Its Use, summarizes the doctrine in the following terms:
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 857 (1979), p. 256.
*902 This concept is clearly in conflict with the venerable doctrine of sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas, and was quickly modified to the rule of "reasonable use," described in the Restatement thusly:
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 857 (1979), pp. 256-257.
It is important to note that the Restatement rules regarding interference with use of water were formulated to deal with situations in which an adjoining landowner's water supply is impaired by a defendant's use or waste of ground water, not, as in Alabama, where adjoining land is itself damaged. Although some jurisdictions have followed Alabama's approach, see e. g., Finley v. Teeter Stone, Inc., 251 Md. 428, 248 A.2d 106 (1968), a case which the appellee relies on heavily, others have limited application of the reasonable use rule to situations which involve competing uses of water. In a well-reasoned case from Florida, the Supreme Court of that state concluded that where a defendant diverts ground water from adjoining land as an incident to his use of his own land, and does not utilize the water itself, traditional nuisance law is more appropriately applied than rules governing competing uses of percolating waters. The Court discussed the issue in language which could well be applied to the instant case:
Labruzzo v. Atlantic Dredging & Constr. Co., 54 So. 2d 673, 675, 29 A.L.R.2d 1346, at 1351 (Fla.1951).
We agree with the reasoning of this case, and conclude that the reasonable use rule was inappropriately applied in Sloss I & II. While the Sloss rule may have been acceptable, even beneficial, in an earlier era of lower population density and more primitive technology, it could produce disastrous results today. Carried to its logical extension, it would allow a quarry owner to willfully sink the City of Birmingham with impunity, provided that it was done in furtherance of a legitimate enterprise and that due care was exercised in the pumping. A rule which provides no check on a landowner's ability to utilize his land to the detriment of society cannot be tolerated. The appellee admits that "at some point a balance must be struck between annoyance and inconvenience to plaintiff and the right of defendant to do business," although they omit to specify when the point is reached. Accordingly, we hold that where a plaintiff's use of groundwater, whether it be for consumption or, as here, for support, is interfered with by defendant's diversion of that water, incidental to some use of his own land, the rules of liability developed by the law of nuisance will apply. These are codified in Alabama at Code 1975, Sections 6-5-120 through 6-5-127. We remand the case for further consideration by the trial court consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
JONES, ALMON, EMBRY and BEATTY, JJ., concur.
TORBERT, C. J., and MADDOX, J., dissent.
MADDOX, Justice (dissenting).
At some point a balance must be struck between annoyance and inconvenience to one who lives near a quarry and the right of the quarry owner to do business, but a striking of that balance is a function of the legislature. Finley v. Teeter Stone, Inc., 251 Md. 428, 248 A.2d 106 (1968).
It is quite possible that the rule stated in Sloss I and II no longer serves the public good, but if the rule stated in those two prior cases of this Court does not strike a proper balance between the competing interests, a remedy lies with the legislature where the rights, duties and societal interests of those affected could be fully considered and evaluated.
TORBERT, C. J., concurs.
[1]  While the style of this case appears to name two defendants-appellees, the parties agree that the case actually involves only one, Wade Sand and Gravel Co., Inc.