Private Nuisance Suit

Private Nuisance 3

Private Nuisance Suit

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Private Nuisance Suit

In this lawsuit a group of landowners are bringing private a nuisance suit against a nearby dairy farm citing the aromatic nature of the farm's liquid manure spreading operation is a public nuisance. The landowners or the plaintiffs in the private nuisance suit are members of the Neighbors Invested in a Clean Environment and are suing the defendant Chris lively for creating such a horrendous smell with his manure spreading practices that it has become a major disruption to the lives of other members of the community. While the landowners understand there will be a certain level of smell from the dairy farm operation, the use and storage of the manure is what is causing the horrendous smell and inciting anger and frustration from surrounding landowners.

In the normal dairy farm process the manure that is left by the cows would be spread across the farmlands to be used as a form of fertilizer. The problem is the defendant’s dairy farm is making a considerable amount of manure due to the large number of cows located on the property that are not ever put out to pasture but instead are left in the barn twenty four hours a day. The manure is not spread in the traditional manner but instead is stored in one of the six storage lagoons that basically liquefy the manure which is then shot through pipes into the air and over the farm land. The method used by this dairy farm is creating an offensive smell and land owners cannot enjoy their land.

Other issues involve the collection the collection of the liquid manure in the ditch that runs along other landowner’s property creating a marshy mess. The drain not only runs through many of the landowner’s property creating a nuisance, it drains into the stream located on the Bountiful State Park which flows into the Nishna River. The Nishna River is a public waterway system and when the manure drains into the river it threatens the public water supply and can cause a major health hazard if let to continue.

The judge’s ruling was not only fair but reasonable. Anxious and the other members of NICE were aware of the existence of the large dairy farm before they moved in. Common sense would dictate that there would be a certain level of smell due to the large number of cows located on the dairy farm. While the judge did not find the smell was a nuisance or Anxious land had been trespassed on by the run off manure, he did find that the dairy farm owner was responsible for making the necessary changes that would prevent the run off in the ditch and the leakage into the public waterway. While no citizen has yet to become sick due to the manure flowing into the river, if the manure continues to flow into the river it could result in a major health hazard that will result in citizens becoming ill.

A private nuisance lawsuit can be brought when there is an interference with a person's interest in the use and enjoyment of his land (LaMance, 2008). While the landowners did suffer reduced enjoyment in their land the dairy farm was an already established business in the community when the homeowner purchased their lands. The judge used his power of discretion to curtail the manure operations in a way that would reduce the risk to the public but did not find for the plaintiffs concerning the horrendous smell because the landowners made a choice to buy land near a dairy farm.

References

LaMance, K. (2008). What is Private Nuisance. Retrieved June 17, 2011 from

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/private-nuisance-lawyers.html