Adkins v. Thomas Solvent Co.

Plaintiffs, a group of Battle Creek homeowners, claim that the Thomas Solvent defendants contaminated soil and ground water in the vicinity of their homes through negligent or intentional discharge of toxic chemicals and industrial wastes. The contamination has not reached and will not reach plaintiffs’ land. Plaintiffs nevertheless claim that the contamination of neighboring land has adversely affected the value of their homes.

A

The majority holds, as a matter of law, that because "diminution in property values alone constitutes damnum ábsque injuria,”1 and the instant plaintiffs, whose land…