Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/280/280mass303.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 21:48:34+00:00

Document:
JOSEPH L. STURTEVANT vs. HENRY FORD & others.
Present: RUGG, C.J., CROSBY, PIERCE, WAIT, FIELD, DONAHUE, & LUMMUS, JJ.
Water Rights. Equity Jurisdiction, Water rights. Equity Pleading and Practice, Decree; Master: findings of fact, report of evidence. Damages, In suit in equity, For interference with water rights.
It was stated, in a suit in equity by a riparian proprietor to enjoin an upper proprietor from unreasonably interfering with the waters of the stream, that, although there were no specific allegations in the bill on the point, it was germane to the nature and extent of injunctive relief to which the plaintiff might be entitled to determine the normal or average natural flow of the stream, when there was neither flood nor drought, and to ascertain some method by which that amount of flow could be measured, for the purpose of fixing the rights of the parties.
Where, upon appeal from a final decree in the suit in equity above described, it appeared from the report of a master that the defendant, about a quarter of a mile above the plaintiff's land, had constructed a dam in the stream, thus flowing a large area of the defendant's land which formerly had been swamp and marsh; that from such pond "there is a very considerable loss [of water] by way of evaporation and a very appreciable loss by way of seepage" to a neighboring watershed lower in elevation; that, by reason of the erection of such dam, there had been and would be "a marked diminution" in the amount of water passing through the plaintiff's land in the channel of the stream; that the defendant at times had had unused water in his pond which he had refused to release to alleviate the diminished flow of water to the plaintiff's land; and that, although the defendant had constantly intended to construct and erect a water wheel to be used at the dam for furnishing power, he had not done so and merely was keeping the waters of the stream in his pond for storage, a finding by the master, that such use of the waters of the stream by the defendant up to that time was unreasonable, was not plainly wrong nor inconsistent with his other findings and, the evidence not having been reported, must stand.
the defendant as it passed through his premises, was four cubic feet per second, was erroneous, although it was based upon various calculations by hydraulic engineers of averages of flow which did not conform entirely to the facts of nature.
(3) The relief given should have been confined to the defendant's lowest pond and his dam, where alone there had been unreasonable use of water to the harm of the plaintiff and where alone, so far as appeared, such unreasonable use was to be apprehended; the final decree was too broad in that it compelled the defendant to draw upon all his ponds and appliances in order to afford the stated flow to the land of the plaintiff.
For injuries of the character above described, a plaintiff generally is entitled to damages measured by depreciation in market value of his property if the injury is of a permanent nature, or by loss in the value of its use or occupation if the injury is occasional or temporary.
(2) The master's assessment of damages was not based upon the correct principle of law.
The disposition, in a suit in equity, of motions to amend a reference to a master so as to require him to report such evidence as either party might request and to require him to report certain testimony, rested in sound judicial discretion, and no abuse of discretion appeared in the denial of the motions.
BILL IN EQUITY, filed in the Superior Court on October 28, 1929, and afterwards amended, described in the opinion.
draw down the waters of Hagar's Pond, Bright's Pond or the reservoir on Stoneleigh Brook below the amount of water strictly necessary for the reasonable use of the mill at Bright's Pond or the amounts strictly necessary for reasonable use for domestic purposes at the Wayside Inn; and the defendants are further ordered to pay to the plaintiff as damages, within thirty days after the entry of final decree, the sum of $10,000, together with interest thereon . . . ."
The defendants appealed from each decree.
The case was argued in this court before Rugg, C.J., Wait, Sanderson, & Field, JJ., and, after the death of Sanderson, J., was submitted on briefs to Crosby, Pierce, Donahue, & Lummus, JJ.
H. C. Thompson & H. Parker, for the defendants.
C. H. Baldwin, for the plaintiff.
water usually flowing in it. The construction of dams and the other incidents of a water driven mill necessarily change the natural flow of a stream and derange to some extent the manner and time of flow of the current as it otherwise would come to the lower riparian owner. Springfield v. Harris, 4 Allen 494, 496. Thurber v. Martin, 2 Gray 394. Gould v. Boston Duck Co. 13 Gray 442, 451. Such reasonable uses are not confined to the utilization of the water for power but extend to whatever purposes may be found to be just and reasonable. Wood v. Edes, 2 Allen 578. See Turner v. Nye, 154 Mass. 579; Nye v. Swift, 190 Mass. 143.
The case was referred to a master to hear the evidence and to find and report the facts. The evidence was not reported. Under the familiar rule these findings of fact must be accepted as true unless plainly wrong, mutually inconsistent or contradictory or vitiated in view of controlling principles of law. The original and supplemental reports of the master are somewhat voluminous. A brief summary of the findings will suffice.
flow of the brook"; and that "there has been and is and there will be in the future a marked diminution in the amount of water passing through the plaintiff's land by means of the channel of Hop Brook and that this is caused by the creation and maintenance of the Carding Mill Pond." There were further findings that all the present structures of the defendants are insufficient to store even a substantial part of the flood waters of Hop Brook and that it would be impracticable and unreasonable to construct such immense works as would be necessary to impound the flood waters and that the present storage facilities are so limited in capacity as to provide the natural flow of the stream for only seven and one half days if no water came from any other source. There are further findings that the diminution in the flow of the brook in 1929 created disagreeable odors in the pools of the brook on land of the plaintiff and had a tendency to promote there the propagation of mosquitoes to an offensive extent and caused a considerable amount of objectionable vegetable growth which came to his premises. These objectionable factors were due in part to the presence in the stream of the effluent of the sewerage beds of a neighboring city for which the defendants are in no way responsible. That effluent is a fact of which both parties to this litigation must take cognizance and govern themselves accordingly. So far as these objectionable factors were due to the defendants, they resulted from the obstruction caused by the Carding Mill Dam. During 1929, when the land of the plaintiff did not receive the natural flow of the stream, there was water in the Carding Mill Pond unused by the defendants which might have been released by them into the brook to alleviate the conditions on the plaintiff's land and which they refused to release.
natural flow of the brook but that the pond has resulted in considerable loss of water by evaporation and a very appreciable loss by seepage, that these facts and conditions make the maintenance of the dam and the level of the water in the pond as they now exist and the use of a water wheel at the dam unreasonable and that if no water wheel is installed the use of the water in the pond merely for creating a pond was unreasonable. The findings of the master are not in all respects clear. There is manifestly a fall in the brook capable of being utilized for power by the dam at the Carding Mill. Whenever a pond or reservoir is created there must be water surface from which some evaporation is certain to occur. There is no finding that the power created by the fall of the stream is too small to justify the creation of a pond so large as the Carding Mill Pond in all the conditions disclosed or that that pond was not adapted to the size and capacity of the brook. The ultimate finding in the light of all the circumstances set forth does not require the inference that the Carding Mill Pond and dam are not capable of reasonable use. The inference from the findings is that the use of the water of that pond thus far made by the defendants has not been reasonable with respect to the rights of the plaintiff as a riparian proprietor and that the diversion of the water from the brook by seepage into the adjoining watershed when the Carding Mill Pond is full has been excessive and has constituted a substantial diminution in the natural flow of the brook.
When the master's report came on to be heard it was recommitted to him "to determine what is the normal or average natural flow of the brook, when there is neither flood nor drought, and to report some method by which that amount of flow can be measured and determined on the ground by means of bench marks or other method which can be made readily available to the parties, and which can be referred to in the decree as fixing their rights."
entitled. In undertaking the inquiry thus laid upon him the master stated, in substance, as his guide the principles of law as to the respective rights of riparian proprietors laid down in Stratton v. Mount Hermon Boys' School, and quoted earlier in this opinion.
almost, if not wholly, negligible, although from other evidence he found that there was never a time until 1929 when there was not some flow in the brook. Some calculations would lead to an estimated flow of five cubic feet per second, but he did not adopt that because to do so would deprive the defendants of their right to the reasonable, beneficial use of the stream. He then proceeded in these words: "If the figure be fixed at four cubic feet per second, the intolerable conditions which existed on the plaintiff's premises in the summer of 1929 cannot and will not be repeated unless through wholly natural causes and through no fault of the defendants. An amount equal to four cubic feet per second will give the plaintiff a flow which will fill the bed of the brook through his premises and will, to a very considerable extent, allow the defendants to have the beneficial and reasonable use of the stream and a reasonable exercise of their riparian rights." This quotation bears some indication that the master estimated the rights of the plaintiff to "a flow which will fill the bed of the brook through his premises" as entitled to higher protection in law than the rights of the defendants to "the beneficial and reasonable use of the stream and a reasonable exercise of their riparian rights" which apparently in his view are entitled to protection only "to a very considerable extent." If that were the complete statement of the principles by which the master was guided, it would be wrong and his findings could not be accepted. The rights of both parties are equal. We are inclined to the opinion, though with some hesitation, that these statements were not intended to modify the full and accurate recital of the rules of law to which allusion has been made and according to which he asserted that he was guided.
the calculations in the light of observed facts and all the testimony, including the nature of the watershed, and the widest variations in rainfall and run-off. It is question of fact in its last analysis. Reliance must be placed on the findings of the master in the absence of a full report of the evidence. Those findings do not appear to be so extreme as to warrant the rejection of them.
The findings of the master respecting the uses made by the defendants of the waters of the brook cannot be pronounced plainly wrong or in vital particulars inconsistent, and contradictory. It is not necessary to examine in detail the exceptions to these findings of the master. So far as material they are covered by what has been said. The interlocutory decree overruling all exceptions and confirming the master's report, except with reference to damage, was right. The finding as to the quantity of water, constituting the normal or average flow of the brook cannot be held to be erroneous and must be accepted.
The result of all the findings is that there has been no use by the defendants of the waters of the brook in an unreasonable way except in connection with the Carding Mill Pond. The findings respecting that pond show that water has been kept for storage and not used in any way, that the operation of the mechanisms at the dam for releasing water has been such as to hold it back and prevent its flow into the brook, and that the seepage into the neighboring watershed has been excessive. This method of management of the pond has caused and is likely to continue to cause unreasonable interference with the rights of the plaintiff to the natural flow of the stream.
questions might arise. Use of water of Stoneleigh Brook by the defendants as riparian proprietors for the domestic purposes, sanitation and fire protection of their buildings manifestly is reasonable. By their extensive purchases the defendants have united under one ownership the enumerated structures on the brook. But they are not indissolubly bound together. They may be severed in ownership in the future as they have been in the past. There is no reason why injunctive process should extend beyond the wrongs committed by the defendants. Injunction does not issue where no wrong has been done or threatened or is to be anticipated. Injunctive relief in the case at bar should be confined to the Carding Mill Pond where alone there has been unreasonable use to the harm of the plaintiff and where alone, so far as appears, such unreasonable use is to be apprehended. The terms of the final decree were too extensive in compelling the defendants to draw upon all their ponds and appliances in order to afford the stated flow to land of the plaintiff. As already pointed out the uses by the defendants of the waters of the brook have been reasonable except at the Carding Mill Pond. There are no indications from facts set out in the report that the uses of the brook by the defendants in the future will be in excess of their rights except at Carding Mill Pond.
A constant flow of four cubic feet per second in the brook as it enters the plaintiff's premises is something different from its actual natural flow. In some, if not in all, aspects it is more advantageous than the natural flow. It is a fixed and definite, in place of a highly variable, amount of water. But the defendants have interfered unreasonably with the natural, uncertain and inconstant flow to which the plaintiff was entitled. That interference must cease so far as it is unreasonable. The law must provide some means for adjusting the controversy between these parties. It ought not to stop short because perfect relief and an exact gauge for measuring rights are not available, provided approximate justice can be done. No alternative has been suggested to the finding of the master based on the calculations.
No one knows what would be the actual natural flow of the stream. There are apparently no means of determining the flow based upon reasonable use of the Carding Mill Pond. No contention has been made that any practicable method is available to accomplish that result. The defendants cannot be compelled to maintain reservoirs for the benefit of the plaintiff. They have an absolute right to give up the maintenance of any or all of their structures on the stream. They may desist at any time from further maintenance of the Carding Mill Dam or the level of water in the pond raised thereby. Doubtless it would be less burdensome to the defendants to release water enough to maintain a regular flow in the brook so far as water is available at the Carding Mill Dam than to discontinue the Carding Mill Pond. In the absence of other method, there appears to be no alternative except to establish some minimum quantity of water to be released by the defendants at the Carding Mill Dam in order to compensate the plaintiff for unreasonable diminution of the natural flow caused in the past and likely to arise in the future from the maintenance of that pond. Hittinger Fruit Co. v. Cambridge, 218 Mass. 220, 225, 226.
person or persons but the effect upon ordinary people acting reasonably in view of all the conditions. The fact that "vile odors" or a "stench" (to quote the words of the master) developed on the plaintiff's premises during the summer of 1929 does not constitute an independent element of damage. Unwholesome or offensive smells or swarms of insects or annoyance and inconvenience are not separate items of damage. Evidence of these and like disagreeable results of wrongful acts affecting real estate is competent as bearing upon damages arising from diminished value of its use and occupation or upon damages arising from injury of a permanent nature in case that is claimed. The plaintiff is entitled to compensation for wrongful interference with the use of his land. Manning v. Woodlawn Cemetery Corp. 239 Mass. 5, 8. Matthews v. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, 231 Mass. 10, 18. Stevens v. Rockport Granite Co. 216 Mass. 486, 489. Howes v. Grush, 131 Mass. 207. Emery v. Lowell, 109 Mass. 197, 201. Baltimore & Potomac Railroad v. Fifth Baptist Church, 108 U. S. 317.
"comfort of the plaintiff." Nowhere in the report is any reference to the standard of comfort affecting ordinary people but there are constant references to the plaintiff and his wife and the effect upon their feelings of various matters obnoxious to them. Considerable space in the report is devoted to the escape of sand from premises of the defendants during the construction of the Carding Mill Dam, which took lodgment in the bed of the brook on the plaintiff's land and thus changed somewhat its pebbly character. The finding in the original report was that the "presence of the sand does no particular harm and is objectionable only on account of the fact that the brook is more picturesque and generally satisfactory when flowing over a pebbly bottom than it is at present where it flows over those parts on the plaintiff's land which have been covered by sand." The master could not specify the cost of removal of the sand but found that such expense would be substantial. No finding was made that it would be a reasonable expenditure to attempt to remove the sand. There can be no property in birds of the air or waterfowl unless and until they are lawfully reduced to physical possession. Dapson v. Daly, 257 Mass. 195. Commonwealth v. Hall, 128 Mass. 410. Wrongfully to render the estate of another inhospitable to birds may be considered as affecting rental or market value. The master could not rightly add to the entire loss of use of the property further elements of damage including all such factors as those enumerated. He concludes this branch of the report by saying "It is very difficult to attempt to describe how one arrives at assessing damages in a case of this character" but that it seemed to him "that $10,000 was a fair and reasonable amount for the defendants to pay for the inconvenience and annoyance to which the plaintiff has been put and the expense to which the plaintiff is likely to be put in attempting to restore his property to its previous condition."
ascertain compensation for wrongful interference with the use of real estate.
No error is disclosed in the denial of the defendants' motions to amend the order of reference, and to require the master to report the evidence. The disposition of these motions rested in sound judicial discretion which does not appear to have been abused.
The result is that the interlocutory decree of December 10, 1930, confirming the master's report in part, is affirmed, and that of October 27, 1931, is reversed. The final decree is reversed because of error in the determination of damages. That decree is also wrong in respect to injunctive relief. If and when a final decree is entered, the relief, so far as injunctive in nature, must be confined exclusively to the Carding Mill Dam and the waters thereby held back, and reference to any and all other dams, gates and works of the defendants must be eliminated.
Interlocutory decree of December 10, 1930, affirmed.
Interlocutory decree of October 27, 1931, reversed.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.