Lovejoy v. Town of Darien

The defendant was authorized by statute to construct a sewer system. It laid its outfall pipe through the plaintiff’s oyster bed, destroying it and the oysters thereon. The question to be decided is whether the trial court was justified in awarding damages to the plaintiff.

The finding, with such corrections as the evidence requires, may be summarized as follows for the purposes of this appeal. The plaintiff is the owner of a franchise for the cultivation of oysters on approximately eight acres of land under the waters of Long Island Sound in the town of Darien. His rights were originally…