Court Opinion

ID: 9664723
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:27:17.18887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:08.767953
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing
PER CURIAM.
In their motion for rehearing plaintiffs contend that we overlooked “that there was a taking of plaintiffs’ property without the formality of a condemnation proceeding,” and therefore the opinion is in conflict with Stewart v. City of Springfield, 350 Mo. 234, 165 S.W.2d 626, 627. We were not unaware of this contention by plaintiffs, but apparently we erroneously believed that it would be obvious that the result reached disposed of it.
Stewart v. City of Springfield, the only case cited and relied on by plaintiffs, was a suit by riparian owners for damages to their land “arising from the pollution of [Wilson] creek caused by the discharge of the effluent of the Springfield sewer system into the creek.” The question on appeal was whether the city had “long since appropriated the use of the creek under its right of eminent domain and the statute of limitations [had] run” against the claim for damages by the riparian owners. The court held that “Such sewer systems have consistently been found to constitute permanent nuisances,” that the full damage for the permanent injury had to be assessed in one action, that the statute of limitations commenced to run from the time the in*630jury became apparent, and in that case the claims were barred.
Apparently it is plaintiffs’ contention that the collection and discharge of surface water by the defendants constituted a permanent nuisance which resulted in a taking or damaging of their property for public use for which they are guaranteed just compensation by Article I, Section 26, Constitution of Missouri 1945, V.A.M.S. Plaintiffs cite and rely only on Stewart v. City of Springfield which does not pertain to the collection and discharge of surface water but to the pollution of streams by a sanitary sewer. However, assuming, but certainly not deciding, that the wrongful collection and discharge of surface water could under some circumstances constitute a permanent nuisance, as distinguished from a temporary nuisance, see Shelley v. Ozark Pipe Line Corporation, 327 Mo. 238, 37 S.W.2d 518, 519, 75 A.L.R. 1316, and thereby result in a taking or damaging of property in the constitutional sense, and also assuming that plaintiffs would be entitled to maintain suit against the Papins, who do not have or claim to have the right of eminent domain, for an alleged taking or damaging of their property for public use, it is obvious that plaintiffs were not entitled to keep their judgment in the circuit court on that basis. “(I)n order to have a taking or damaging * * * within the meaning of Art. I, § 26, Constitution of Missouri 1945, * * * it is necessary that there must be an invasion or an appropriation of some valuable property right which the landowner has to the legal and proper use of his property, * * Hamer v. State Highway Commission, Mo. Sup., 304 S.W.2d 869, 871. Plaintiffs sought damages to their property on the basis that the defendants increased the volume and rate of flow of surface water flowing in the natural drainway and onto their land over and above what it was prior to the construction of the Kroenlein subdivision. But, as pointed out in the principal opinion, under our modified common enemy doctrine defendants were entitled to do this within certain limits without infringing upon any property right of the plaintiffs. If defendants’ acts in disposing of the surface water were within the permitted limits, there could be no taking or damaging of plaintiffs’ property within the meaning of Art. I, § 26, Constitution of Missouri 1945. There is no conflict between the principal opinion and the Stewart case.
Plaintiffs’ motion for rehearing or in the alternative to transfer to the court en banc is overruled.