Permanente Metals Corp. v. Pista

HEALY, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment awarding damages for injury to a fruit crop.

Appellant operates a plant in the Salinas Valley, California, where dolomite ore is calcined. Located within a distance of a mile from the plant is appellees’ apricot orchard. In 1943, during the blossoming or pollination period of the fruit, dust discharged from the stacks of appellant’s plant settled over the surrounding terrain within a radius of approximately three miles from the plant. Appellees sought damages on the ground that the dustfall interfered with the pollination of the fruit,…