Moorre v. Stevens Coal Co.

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Maxey,

This is an action in trespass by riparian owners of a small tract of land acquired by them in 1928, against defendant, a lessee of a culm bank and ground contiguous thereto, on which it operates a washery three and a half miles upstream from plaintiffs’ property. The latter allege that defendant permitted coal dirt, sulphur, muck, and other refuse material to escape from the Washery into Shamokin Creek, which carried this material onto plaintiffs’ land. The court below succinctly states the basic question involved, as follows: “Whether the release given for damages…