Title: Strickland v. Lambert

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

109 So. 2d 664 (1959)
W. C. STRICKLAND et al.
v.
Douglas LAMBERT.
8 Div. 938.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
February 19, 1959.
Beasley & McCutchen, Tuscumbia, for appellants.
Jesse A. Keller, Florence, for appellee.
COLEMAN, Justice.
Appellee, complainant below, filed bill of complaint seeking to abate an alleged nuisance consisting of the raising and keeping of chickens by appellants, respondents below, as described in the bill. From decree overruling demurrer, the respondents appeal.
Appellants argue only one proposition, to wit, that if the conduct alleged constitutes *665 a nuisance at all, it is a public nuisance, not a private one, and that the trial court erred in overruling those grounds of demurrer taking the point that the bill fails to allege that complainant has suffered from the alleged nuisance a special injury, real and distinct from that suffered by the public, and, therefore, under §§ 1084, 1086, Title 7, Code 1940, complainant is not entitled to maintain this suit.
Sections 1084 and 1086 recite as follows:
This court has said:
and also:
We think the allegations of the instant bill establish a private nuisance or a public one from which complainant suffers a special injury different in kind from that suffered by the public generally.
The bill alleges that complainant and respondents both own their respective dwelling houses situated in the City of Florence in an area zoned "B" residential; that complainant's home is located on the south side of Henson Drive, a public road, and that respondents' home is located on the north side of said Drive facing the complainant; that respondents raise and keep chickens on their aforesaid premises; "That Complainant, in the summer of 1955, inspected the premises of the Respondents and discovered that Respondents allowed the manure droppings from the thousands of chickens to accumulate and stand for days and weeks at a time; that the Respondents did negligently allow water to mix with said chickens' droppings and manure therefore making convenient breeding places for the said flies; that the said chicken droppings became several feet high before the Respondents would remove the same; that Respondents failed to spray or use any other proper preventive to abate the odor and said flies; and that Respondents on occasions would leave dead chickens lying about their premises and would burn chicken feathers on their said premises"; that in the summer of 1955, the odors from the poultry plant were manifest and permeated the entire area around complainant's home; that: "In fact the odors became so strong that it became impossible for the Complainant and his family to properly enjoy their meals, and they had periods of nausea and sickness due to said odors. The odors so increased during *666 the summer of 1955 that Complainant could not use and enjoy his back yard, and his children could not play in said yard for any appreciable length of time, because of the said odors. The Complainant was prevented from having guest(s) and friends to his house because of said odors; that the presence of flies soon became intolerable; that great swarms of flies stayed in and about the complainant's home and yards, and it was humiliating and embarrassing to the Complainant in attempting to entertain friends because of the presence of the flies and the said odor; that not only was there the odor of the manure and droppings of said chickens, but this was mingled with the odor of dead chickens and burnt feathers; that the flies present were not only the ordinary house flies, but larger and `green colored' or `blow flies' which stayed continually on the Complainant's premises; that this condition has become increasingly worse, both in the summer of 1956 and in the summer of 1957. * * *"; "That the Complainant in the summer of 1955 did complain to the Respondents about the condition of their premises, and Respondents refused to do anything about it. The Complainant and several of his neighbors did thereupon complain to the commissioners of the City of Florence, and to the Health Officials of Lauderdale County, and the said Commissioners did thereupon conduct a hearing in the City Hall of Florence in the summer of 1955 with the Respondents and the Complainant and several of the complaining neighbors in the neighborhood attending. At said hearing the Respondents did promise to spray and take the other necessary preventive measures to abate the odor and the presence of flies; however, the Respondents have not kept their promise in this regard, and have done nothing to abate the odor and the presence of said flies; that on numerous occasions since the summer of 1955 the health authorities of Lauderdale County, Alabama have visited the premises of the Respondents, and Respondents have promised on each occasion to take the proper measures to abate the odor and the said flies, and Respondents have further promised that they were going to move their chickens to a rural area near Cloverdale, Alabama, but the Respondents have failed and refused to carry out these promises. * * *"
With respect to a poultry production operation in the City of Tuscaloosa, this court said:
This court has sustained the granting of injunctions to abate nuisances consisting of emitting obnoxious odors and gases from a tobacco drying house. Hundley v. Harrison, 123 Ala. 292, 26 So. 294; a stable, Kyser v. Hertzler, 188 Ala. 658, 65 So. 967; and a sewer dump, City of Selma v. Jones, 202 Ala. 82, 79 So. 476, L.R.A. 1918F, 1020.
City of Selma v. Jones, supra, was an appeal from decree overruling demurrer to a bill to abate a nuisance, which consisted of a sewer dump pile created and maintained near the premises of complainant. The bill in that case was filed by an individual. One ground of demurrer was:
This court held the demurrer correctly overruled and said:
In the instant case, according to the bill of complaint, the odors and flies emanating from respondents' poultry plant move onto complainant's land and into his home, thereby disturbing his comfort and endangering his health. The injury to complainant's comfort and the threat to his health in his home is an injury to his right to use and enjoy his property free from the odors and flies, and is an injury in which no one else participates, although other neighbors may suffer a like injury to enjoyment of their separate homes.
In Birmingham News Co. v. Little, 226 Ala. 642, 643, 644, 148 So. 398, Anderson, C. J., writing for the court said:
The law does not require that before a party can abate a nuisance he must show an injury which is unique to him. Neither the fact that the public authorities held a hearing on the matter, nor the fact that other neighbors suffer a like injury in enjoyment of their respective properties, operates to destroy the special character of the damage to complainant in enjoyment of his property.
It follows that the Circuit Court did not err in overruling the ground of demurrer insisted on in this appeal.
Affirmed.
SIMPSON, STAKELY, GOODWYN and MERRILL, JJ., concur.