Richards v. Gundlach

An action on the case was instituted by appellees in the circuit court of St. Clair county against appellants to recover damages alleged to have resulted to appellees’ lands from the removal by appellants of the underlying strata of coal therefrom without leaving sufficient support.

At the time this suit was brought, appellants had taken coal from approximately one-fourth of appellees’ land, consisting of 12 acres. Some parts of the surface of the land over which the coal had been taken subsided, leaving depressions, the largest of which was about 62 feet by 54 feet, and 18 inches deep. There…