Van Brocklin v. Gudema

This is a negligence action to recover damages for the pollution of plaintiffs’ well. The case was tried by a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of plaintiffs in the amount of $1,500, and the defendant appeals.

The plaintiffs and the defendant own adjoining farm property near Shannon, Illinois. The defendant also owns a stockyards in the Village of Shannon, and it is there, in a sense, that the trouble began. Not surprisingly, one of the by-products of a stockyards is manure. Every Spring, the defendant had the problem of disposing of the large quantity of manure which would accumulate in…