Opinion ID: 1157624
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Plaintiff's Motion to Make Definite

Text: Finally we come to the motion of the plaintiff to require certain allegations of the answer to be made more definite and certain. The first ground of this motion relates to the parts of certain paragraphs alleging that in addition to the Santee River and Six Mile Creek  there are numerous other navigable waterways which run through or border on the property described in the complaint. And Judge Moss held that the motion in this respect should be granted, and that the defendant should be required to state in its answer in clear and unambiguous language what waterways run through or border on the property of the plaintiff it contends to be navigable streams, either naming such streams or describing them with such certainty that they can be identified by the plaintiff. We are of opinion, however, that to this extent the order of the Circuit Court is in error, because there is no one presumed to have more knowledge of the property described in the complaint than the plaintiff itself, and the matter of navigable streams on or bordering on its property must be peculiarly within its knowledge. Hughes v. Orangeburg Mfg. Co. , 81 S.C. 354, 62 S.E. 404; and Spurlin v. Colprovia Products Co. , 185 S.C. 449, 194 S.E. 332, and other authorities therein cited. The second ground of the motion to make more definite and certain, however, relates to an allegation in the answer, in paragraph 35, to the effect that numerous and extensive watercourses and engineering works in aid of navigation, in the vicinity of the property described in the complaint, have been constructed by the United States, or by parties other than defendant, and that these and other works, including the Intracoastal Waterway Canal, substantially changed tidal currents, stream flow, water level, salt content, and other water conditions, all of which caused or contributed to the damage claimed by the plaintiff, none of such damage being caused by the defendant. Judge Moss likewise held as to these allegations that the defendant should make the same more definite and certain by alleging what numerous and extensive watercourses and engineering works in aid of navigation, in addition to the Intracoastal Waterway Canal, have been constructed in the vicinity of the property described in the complaint, that have had the effect alleged, and that have caused or contributed to the damage claimed by the plaintiff, and that each of the same should be  designated in such specific language that it can be recognized and identified by the plaintiff. Our conclusion is that this is a matter which might be deemed within the peculiar knowledge of the defendant, arising out of its construction of the Santee-Cooper Project; and that to this extent the order of the Circuit Judge should be affirmed. The result is, of course, that the judgment of this Court is that the order of the Circuit Court should be reversed in part and affirmed in part, to wit, that the motion of the defendant to strike out certain allegations of the complaint should have been granted, save and except with reference to certain allegations contained in paragraphs 24 and 25 thereof, relating to hunting, fowling and fishing rights, as to which the motion was properly denied, and these allegations should remain in the complaint; and that the motion of the plaintiff to strike out certain allegations contained in the answer should have been denied as to paragraphs 2 and 6 of the second defense, and as to all of paragraph 4 thereof, save and except the last sentence therein contained, hereinbefore quoted, which should have been stricken out; and that the motion of the plaintiff to make certain parts of the answer more definite and certain should have been denied as to the first ground thereof, but was properly granted as to the second ground thereof, which should remain in full force and effect. Let the complaint be amended in accordance with this opinion, and duly served upon counsel for the defendant within twenty days after the filing of the remitittur herein; and let the answer be amended in accordance with this opinion, and duly served upon counsel for the plaintiff within twenty days after service of the amended complaint. Accordingly, the order of the Circuit Court is Reversed in part and affirmed in part. FISHBURNE, STUKES, TAYLOR and OXNER, JJ., concur. BAKER, C.J., not participating.