Opinion ID: 2405518
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: petitioner's pleas of limitation

Text: The original petition of Respondent Downs was filed on June 17, 1960, and the petitions of Respondents Powers and Shotwell were filed October 20, 1960. Citations were issued in the cases on October 25, 1960. Respondents alleged in their first amended petition that the sewage disposal plant of Petitioner began operation on or about June 30, 1958, and that on or about November 6, 1959, the operations reached full capacity; that at this time, and afterwards, the obnoxious fumes and obnoxious odors which spread across and invaded the property and buildings became so offensive as to make their premises unfit for continuous habitation; that such odors from and after the date hereinabove set out being generated on and originating from the sewage disposal plant of the defendant have become so offensive and collect on the property of these plaintiffs that their property has been diminished in value and damaged as hereinafter set out in violation of Section 17, Article One of the Constitution of Texas. Respondents also alleged that the incidence of mosquitoes and flies has multiplied so that the land and premises of these plaintiffs is no longer a desirable place to live or economically sound for use as a stock farm and that these plaintiffs' property has been diminished in value. It is thus seen that the purport of the allegations of Respondents was that the operations of the plant constituted a nuisance on or about November 6, 1959, when the operations of the plant reached full capacity, entitling Respondents to damages under Section 17 of Article I of our Constitution which provides that No person's property shall be taken, damaged or destroyed for or applied to public use without adequate compensation being made   . Petitioner in its answer alleged by way of affirmative defense that Respondents' causes of action were barred by the two-year statute of limitation in that the permanent damage claimed to plaintiffs' land, if any, occurred when the defendant constructed and placed its sewage disposal plant in operation on or about July, 1958    and further    the permanent damage claimed by Plaintiff to his land occurred when such damage became apparent because of the construction and operation of defendant's said plant. The purport of Petitioner's defensive plea of limitation was that the conditions creating the nuisance and the right to damages, if such existed, arose when the plant was first placed in operation in July, 1958, rather than, as alleged by Respondents, when the plant reached full operations on or about November 6, 1959. The Water and Sewer Superintendent for Petitioner testified that the sewage disposal plant processed 3,554,000 gallons upon commencement of operations on July 10, 1958; that the flow on July 17, 1959, was 5,698,000 gallons; that the average daily flow in 1960 was 6,500,000 gallons, and that on or about November 6, 1959, the last flow to the old sewer farm was taken off and transferred to the new sewage disposal plant. The trial court submitted the liability issue in terms of the plant causing objectionable matter, such as noxious fumes, odors or insects to come upon the farms of Respondents; the damage issue in terms of whether the objectionable matter caused depreciation in the market value of Respondents' farms and whether such damage was permanent; the issues to determine the amount of damages in terms of the reasonable cash market value of the farms immediately prior and immediately after the beginning and completion of the depreciation in value; and the limitation issue in terms of when Respondents had knowledge that their lands were damaged. The Court of Civil Appeals upheld the manner of submission of the liability issue and stated that the City is liable under the Constitution for diminution in market value of land resulting from noxious odors and insects cast thereon regardless of the question of negligence or of nuisance. The Court further stated upon authority of City of Abilene v. Bailey, Tex.Civ.App., 345 S.W.2d 540, wr. ref. n. r. e., that the finding that the operation of Petitioner's sewage disposal plant caused noxious fumes, odors and insects to come upon the lands of Respondents amounted to a finding that the operation of the sewage disposal plant created a nuisance. Arguing from an understandable misinterpretation of the basis of our refusal of the application for writ of error in the Bailey case, Petitioner contends that Respondents suffered a legal injury, and hence their causes of action arose the moment the odors and insects invaded their premises, which, under the evidence, continues Petitioner, was immediately after the sewer farm was placed in operation on July 10, 1958. Further reasoning therefrom, Petitioner contends that the rule applied by this Court in Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. v. Fromme, 153 Tex. 352, 269 S.W.2d 336, and similar cases, is controlling here, i. e., that where the facility is of a permanent character and the invasion is continuous and recurring, the statute of limitations begins to run at the time of the first invasion. The Court of Civil Appeals held that [u]ntil the condition did become readily discernible or apparent there was actually no injury to the lands of Respondents and that the evidence does not conclusively show that the invasion of appellees' lands from odors and insects commenced in July of 1958 and certainly does not conclusively show that such invasion commenced within their knowledge at that time. Upon this reasoning the Court of Civil Appeals upheld the submission of the limitation issue by the trial court in terms of when Respondents had knowledge that their land was damaged    as the result of obnoxious odors; the jury answered July, 1959, which was within the limitation period. The resolution of the foregoing rests in the fact that the invading agents resulting from the operations of the sewage disposal plant do not affect the physical condition or cause damage to the land itself  as was the case of flowing water in Fromme  but are the cause of, and result in, personal discomfort and annoyance to those who reside on the land. The damages consequent therefrom are recoverable as a taking or damaging of private property for a public use under Article I, Section 17, of the Constitution only if, and after, the operations of the sewer farm constitute a nuisance. The basic rule was early stated by this Court in Baugh v. Texas & N. O. R. Co., 80 Tex. 56, 15 S.W. 587: When a nuisance is created by the construction of works in their nature permanent, and which, as sometimes occurs in case of works for a public use, are not subject to be abated, the rule is that all damages resulting therefrom to property may be recovered in one action, and the proper measure of damages is the depreciation in the value of the property. Rosenthal v. [Taylor, B. & H.] Railway Co., (Tex.) ante, [79 Tex.325, 15 S.W.] 268, (decided at the present term;) [Gainesville, H. & W.] Railway Co. v. Hall, 78 Tex. 169, 14 S.W.Rep. 259 [9 L.R.A. 298]. It was further held by this Court in Sherman Gas & Electric Co. v. Belden, 103 Tex. 59, 123 S.W. 119, 27 L.R.A.,N.S., 237: To justify a recovery of damages for personal inconvenience or reduction in the value of their property, the plaintiffs must prove such annoyance, discomfort, or other interruption of the use of their home as would constitute a nuisance. The standard by which the issue of nuisance must be determined by the jury is that the conditions caused by the operation of the plant were such as would disturb and annoy persons of ordinary sensibilities, and of ordinary tastes and habits. In other words, the acts complained of must constitute a nuisance. W.P.O.Co. v. Cook, 6 Tex. Civ.App. 573, 26 S.W. 96; League v. Journeay, 25 Tex. 172, Dittman v. Repp., 50 Md. 513, 33 Am.Rep. 325; 21 Am. & Eng.Ency. 687. If there be no nuisance, there can be no recovery of damages for such annoyance as may exist, nor for diminution in the value of the property. The rule in Belden was reaffirmed by this Court in Brewster v. City of Forney (Tex. Comm.App.), 223 S.W. 175. The case involved a suit for damages against a municipality resulting from the operation of a sewage disposal system. The jury found that the operations caused offensive odors to such an extent as to make the property of the plaintiff undesirable as a home, and resulted in a diminution in the fair market value of the property of $10.00 per acre. The trial court also submitted the question of whether the plant as operated was a nuisance, to which the jury answered in the negative. In connection with the latter issue the court defined a nuisance as the use of one's own property for the conducting of one's own business in such an unreasonable manner as will, under all the circumstances, unfairly cause real or material damages to another. The trial court entered judgment for the municipality upon the basis of the jury finding that the operation of the system did not constitute a nuisance, and this was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. Brewster v. City of Forney, Tex.Civ.App., 196 S.W. 636. The Court of Civil Appeals reasoned that the jury finding negativing a nuisance rendered the case one of damages without the existence of a nuisance, which was damnum absque injuria. The Commission of Appeals was of the opinion that the facts found by the jury showed beyond doubt or question that the construction and operation of the plant complained of was, as related to plaintiff, [constituted] a `nuisance,' and that these findings rendered the additional finding of the jury negativing nuisance wholly immaterial. The Commission of Appeals did not regard as controlling the holding in Belden that the issue of nuisance must be determined by the standard of whether or not the operations of the sewage disposal system were such as would disturb and annoy persons of ordinary sensibilities, and of ordinary tastes and habits. It is also clear that this Court disagreed with the Commission of Appeals upon the crucial question of what is essential to the establishment of a nuisance to support a recovery founded on a taking or damaging of private property for a public use under Section 17 of Article I of the Constitution. This is apparent from the view of this Court quoted by the Commission of Appeals in its opinion, and by the order of this Court remanding the case for further trial in accordance with the rules announced in Sherman Gas & Electric Co. v. Belden, 103 Tex. 59, 123 S.W. 119, 27 L.R.A. (N.S.) 237; Brewster v. City of Forney (Tex.Comm. App.), 223 S.W. 175. The rationale of the decisions is that a municipality is not guilty of an actionable tort in the fact that its act of constructing and operating a sewage disposal plant results in what would be a private nuisance if operated as a private enterprise; but if the construction and operation of the plant results in a nuisance, such acts of the municipality constitute a damaging or taking of property under Section 17 of Article I of the Texas Constitution. Without the requirement that the facts supporting a recovery under the Constitution as a taking or damaging of private property for public use must be such as would support a recovery for a nuisance, the municipality would be held to a higher liability than a private person engaging in the same acts. This is not to say, of course, that the facts must necessarily be characterized in pleadings or findings as a nuisance, but it does mean that the conditions and circumstances shown by the evidence, and the findings, must establish a nuisance. This is our construction of the opinion in City of Temple v. Mitchell, Tex.Civ.App., 180 S.W.2d 959, no wr. hist., cited by the Court of Civil Appeals in City of Abilene v. Bailey, supra. The statement in Houston & T. C. R. Co. v. Davis, 45 Tex.Civ.App. 212, 100 S.W. 1013, er. ref., also cited by the Court in Bailey, to the effect that there may be a recovery for property taken and damaged for a public purpose regardless of any question of negligence or nuisance is not in harmony with the decisions if considered as a holding that there can be a taking or damaging of property regardless of whether or not the nature of the public use would constitute a nuisance. The decision of this Court in Gainesville, H. & W. R. Co. v. Hall, 78 Tex. 169, 14 S.W. 259, 9 L.R.A. 298, which was cited in the Davis case as authority for the foregoing statement, approached the problem by saying that the Legislature certainly did not intend to authorize a corporation to do an act for a public use which, if done by an individual without legislative sanction, would be actionable, and at the same time exempt it from liability to respondent in damages to the owner whose property has been injured. From this the Court proceeded to hold that the noise, smoke and vibration of the trains which depreciated the lands involved in the case would have been a nuisance at common law if the business of operating the trains had been carried on by a private person, and upon this basis the court held that the affected lands had been taken and damaged in the constitutional sense. Article 5526, Vernon's Ann.Tex.Stats., imposes a limitation period of within two years after the cause of action shall have accrued regarding actions in trespass for injury done to the estate or property of another. It was said by this Court in Port Arthur Rice Milling Co. v. Beaumont Rice Mills, 105 Tex. 514, 143 S.W. 926, that Before it can be said that a cause of action exists in a legal sense, there must be such a mature right as may be declared upon and maintained; the Court further quoted with approval the statement that The statute of limitation begins to run from the time when a complete cause of action accrued  that is, when a suit may be maintained  and not until that time. It was held in Stanley v. Schwalby, 85 Tex. 348, 19 S.W. 264, that Limitation runs upon the right or cause of action accruing, and not before; and this does not exist unless facts exist which authorize the person asserting claim to ask relief from some court of justice against the person who ought to make reparation. Respondents did not have a cause of action against Petitioner until there was a legal injury for which Petitioner was liable. See City of Ottumwa v. Nicholson, 161 Iowa 473, 143 N.W. 439, L.R.A. 1916E, 983. Liability arose against Petitioner when, and not until, the operations of its sewage disposal system were such as to constitute a nuisance and this is determinable by the standard of when the facts and circumstances were such as would disturb and annoy persons of ordinary sensibilities, and of ordinary tastes and habits. Sherman Gas & Electric Co. v. Belden, supra. See also City of Temple v. Mitchell, supra, holding that the invasion of property rights must be substantial to constitute a nuisance, the standard for determining substantiality being that of normal persons in the particular locality. The burden was upon Petitioner to establish its defensive plea of limitation. City of Houston v. Chapman, 132 Tex. 443, 123 S.W.2d 652. Essential to its defense was a finding establishing the time when the cause of action accrued to Respondents, i. e., when operations of the sewage facilities were such as to constitute a nuisance under the standard to be applied. An issue for such purpose was not requested by Petitioner nor did Petitioner object to the limitation issue submitted by the trial court for the reason that it did not embrace the proper standard. Petitioner excepted to the form of the liability issues submitted by the trial court which inquired if the sewage disposal operation in question has caused objectionable matter, if any, such as noxious fumes, odors or insects, if any, to come upon Plaintiffs' farms, upon the ground that the Plaintiffs have failed in this case to show that the Defendant did any act which was performed in a negligent manner or such as to constitute a nuisance which was a proximate cause of Plaintiffs' alleged injuries; also, Petitioner's fifth point of error to the Court of Civil Appeals asserted that the trial court erred in failing to submit an issue to the jury inquiring as to whether the acts of Appellant were such as to constitute a continuing and permanent nuisance for the reason that such a finding is an essential element of Appellees' cause of action. However, Petitioner did not preserve the foregoing point of error in its motion for rehearing in the Court of Civil Appeals and did not bring such a point of error to this Court in its application for writ of error.