De Costa v. Massachusetts Flat Water & Mining Co.
California Supreme Court
Appeal from the Eleventh District. Suit to abate a nuisance and for damages. The complaint avers, in substance, that plaintiff is owner and in possession of a tract of about one hundred acres of land, enclosed by a ditch fence ; that the land has been used for agricultural purposes for several years last past; that defendants have wrongfully entered upon said land and constructed a ditch across it, which with its embankments, or the earth excavated, covered a space two…
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Appeal from the Eleventh District. Suit to abate a nuisance and for damages. The complaint avers, in substance, that plaintiff is owner and in possession of a tract of about one hundred acres of land, enclosed by a ditch fence ; that the land has been used for agricultural purposes for several years last past; that defendants have wrongfully entered upon said land and constructed a ditch across it, which with its embankments, or the earth excavated, covered a space two hundred rods long and twelve feet wide, rendering so much of his land useless ; that the ditch so meanders as to render it…
1Opinion of the CourtCope, J.
Field, C. J. concurring.
This is an action to abate a nuisance, and for damages. The nuisance was caused by the digging of a ditch upon the land of the plaintiff. The Court ordered the nuisance to be abated, and awarded as damages a sum sufficient to pay the expense of filling up the ditch, and restoring the land to its original condition. In assessing the damages, the Court proceeded upon an incorrect basis, and, of course, arrived at an erroneous result. The plaintiff could not recover beyond the injury sustained, and it was improper to award compensation for an expense which might never be…
2Cited by14 opinions
- Clayworth v. Pfizer, Inc.California Supreme Court · 2010
- Heninger v. DunnCalifornia Court of Appeal · 1980
- Mustang Reservoir, Canal & Land Co. v. HissmanSupreme Court of Colorado · 1910
- Fox v. Hale & Norcross Silver Mining Co.California Supreme Court · 1898
- Watt v. Nev. Cen. R. R. Co.Nevada Supreme Court · 1896
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