Court Opinion

ID: 9734649
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:40:58.700772+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:49.882688
License: Public Domain

DUNN, Justice
(dissenting).
I would dissent.
The majority opinion relies on the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision of Gorton v. Schofield, 311 Mass. 352, 41 N.E.2d 12 (1942) to place on the present owner of the land the continuing duty to maintain the wall so that it would provide continuing lateral support to appellee’s land. However, in Gorton the court specifically found that the landowner had permitted “the retaining wall to decay and no longer to answer the purpose for which it was constructed[.]” 311 Mass. at 358, 41 N.E.2d at 15. The subsequent landowner was found to be the effective cause of the injury.
This court is confronted with a different situation. The trial court found in Finding of Fact XIII that “[t]he retaining wall in question was not properly constructed so as to withstand hydrostatic pressure, and specifically lacked necessary and appropriate drainage devices such as ‘weep holes’ or a ‘French drain system’ in order to relieve hydrostatic pressure against it, lacked adequate footings and reinforcements, and had other engineering defects.” Furthermore, the trial court found that “[t]he failure of the retaining wall in question was the proximate result of the improper construction of the wall, the age of the wall, and hydrostatic pressure caused by natural forces and *208causes.” Finding of Fact XV. The trial court did not find the defendant personally negligent with regard to the care and upkeep of the wall. Conclusion of Law 2.
A landowner who excavates near the adjacent property owes a duty to prevent injury to those adjacent lands from the removal of lateral support or may be subject to an action for damages. Ulrick v. Dakota Loan & Trust Co., 2 S.D. 285, 49 N.Wl 1054 (1891); 2 C.J.S. Adjoining Landowners § 15 (1972). This obligation, however, is only upon the owner who caused the excavation and is not on a subsequent owner. McKamy v. Bonanza Sirloin Pit, Inc., 195 Neb. 325, 237 N.W.2d 865 (1976); Paul v. Bailey, 109 Ga.App. 712, 137 S.E.2d 337 (1964).
In First National Bank & Trust Co. of Rockford v. Universal Mortgage & Realty Trust, 38 Ill.App.3d 345, 347, 347 N.E.2d 198, 200 (1976) the Illinois Appellate Court quoting from Restatement of Torts, Ch. 39, § 817(j) stated:
A possessor of land becomes subject to the liability stated in this Subsection when he withdraws from another’s land the natural support furnished by his land, but he does not become liable under the rule stated in this Subsection unless the other’s land subsides. Transfer of his land to a third person does not relieve him of risk of liability or subject the subsequent possessor to this liability. (emphasis in original) The actor may avoid liability by furnishing artificial support, such as a retaining wall, sufficient to replace the natural lateral support withdrawn, (emphasis added)
The court found the subsequent owner not liable for damages, finding that defendant had not altered or affected the conditions as they were when it took title to the property. No action on its part was the legal cause of the harm.
Even though the facts in First National indicated that a retaining wall had not been built after the excavation, the court’s rationale is applicable to our fact situation. Appellant did not alter or affect the conditions of the property as they were when she took title to the property. She was not negligent in the upkeep of the wall and did not allow the wall to decay to the point where it no longer could serve the purposes for which it was constructed. Rather, the trial court found the legal cause of the harm to be the improper construction of the wall. The original landowner did not fulfill his duty of furnishing artificial support sufficient to replace the natural lateral support withdrawn. This risk of liability is not transferrable and thus appellant in this action is not liable to replace the wall or for damages resulting from the shifting of the wall.
I am authorized to state that HENDERSON, Justice, joins in this dissent.