FRANKLYN LAWRENCE AND MURIEL LAWRENCE, HIS WIFE, APPELLANTS,
v.
EASTERN AIR LINES, INC., A DELAWARE CORPORATION, AND TOWN OF MIAMI SPRINGS, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEES

Fla. | 1955-07-20
DREW, C. J., and THOMAS and THORNAL, JJ., concur.
81 So. 2d 632 Florida Supreme Court (1955) Positive Treatment
Cited by 18 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reversed the dismissal of a private nuisance complaint brought by property owners against an airline and municipality for water damage caused by the defendants' alteration of natural water flow. The court held that the complaint stated an actionable claim under established nuisance law and that the defendants' pre-acquisition conduct was not a bar to recovery.


Holding

The court held that the complaint, though imperfectly drafted, sufficiently stated a claim for private nuisance. Under established law, persons altering surface water flow must provide against consequences of extraordinary rainfall and cannot divert waters to injure neighboring property owners. The Lawrences' acquisition of the property after some of Eastern Air Lines' acts did not bar their claim, as the maxim of coming to a nuisance is not a valid defense in tort actions.


Key Quotes

“No person has the right to gather surface waters that would naturally flow in one direction by drainage, ditches, dams, or otherwise, and divert them from their natural-course and cast them upon the lands of the. lower .owner, to,, his injury.”

Establishes the governing rule of nuisance law prohibiting diversion of natural water flow to neighboring properties.

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Facts & Procedural History

The Lawrences acquired property in Miami Springs in May 1951. Shortly before their purchase, Eastern Air Lines filled in and paved adjacent land to th…

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Opinion of the Court
HOBSON, Justice.

HOBSON, Justice.

Plaintiff-appellants, Franklyn and Muriel Lawrence sued Eastern Air Lines, Inc., and the Town of Miami Springs at law to recover damages for a private nuisance. Each defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state an actionable claim. Appeal is taken from an order granting these motions and final judgment consequent upon such order, dismissing the complaint with prejudice.

The complaint alleged in substance that plaintiffs are the owners of certain described property within the corporate limits of the defendant Town of Miami Springs; that they reside thereon and make it their homestead; that they acquired the property on May 18, 1951 and have resided on it since that time; that shortly before they acquired the property the defendant Eastern Air Lines, which owned a large parcel of land situated immediately to the east of plaintiffs’ land (separated therefrom only by a road 40’ wide), filled in and substantially raised the elevation of its land and caused it to be paved; that by reason of these activities, and by reason'of failing to provide for adequate drainage facilities, the “defendant Eastern Air Lines, Inc. did change the natural flow of surface waters that occur during periods of rain, and has thereby caused the said surface waters from said land of the defendant and from land surrounding same to’ flow westward across the street to be discharged upon the lands of the plaintiffs; that on'several different occasions each year and during each period of rain during each year, since the defendant’s acts aforesaid, the said surface waters have been discharged in such great quantity on the plaintiff’s land that it was flooded to a depth of several inches for many days at a time.”

Plaintiffs • allege that injuries to their land include the following:

•“[T]he foundations of the plaintiffs’ house have settled, causing the walls and plaster to crack; the floors have buckled and warped to such an extent that they must be replaced; the walls have sagged so that the doorways and windows are off-plumb and won’t shut; the constant moisture under the house causes a health menace, and has rotted out the floor joists; large holes have been washed in the lawn, and the shrubbery and plants have been ruined; the furniture and furnishings' in the house have been damaged.”

As for the defendant Town of Miami Springs, plaintiffs allege that during the summer of 1952 it raised the elevation of a street which borders plaintiffs’ property to the north, further obstructing the natural flow of-surface water and increasing the quantity of water standing on plaintiffs’ land by virtue of the acts of Eastern Air Lines and increasing the injuries done thereby, and that “the acts of the defendant Town of Miami Springs were negligently performed by reason of its failure to make any provision for allowing the surface waters to follow the natural flow northward away from the land of the plaintiffs.”

Finally, plaintiffs allege that the acts of defendants “constitute a continuing wrong against' the plaintiffs,” that their property has been damaged in the amount of $7,-500; and that although demand has been made for such sum, it has been met with refusal.

This was not a model complaint, but we think it was sufficient under our liberal, system of pleading to withstand a motion to dismiss. See Hotel & Restaurant Employees, etc., v. Boca Raton Club, Inc., Fla., 73 So. 2d 867. In Davis v. Ivey, 93 Fla. 387, 112 So. 264, we held that persons changing or restraining the flow of water1 must provide against the consequences which will result from extraordinary rainfall. And in Brumley v. Dorner, 78 Fla. 495, 83 So. 912, a much-cited case in the field of nuisances from accumulation of water, we held -the' 'applicable rule to be that “No person has the right to gather surf.ace waters that would naturally flow in one direction by drainage, ditches, dams, or otherwise, and divert them from their natural-course and cast them upon the lands of the. lower .owner, to,, his injury.” See also Dade County v. South Dade Farms, 133 Fla. 288, 182 So. 858, and Panama City v. York, 157 Fla. 425, 26 So. 2d 184, wherein we reaffirmed this rule. We think the rule is broad .enough, and the ; facts alleged herein sufficiently similar to those in , the Brumley .case-to. sustain the instant complaint.

• As for the fact that an instrumentality of government is involved, we said in the Brumley case:

“[T]his court is o'f the opinion that [neither] the board of county commissioners, nor any other power under the state, has the right to so conduct its affairs as to destroy the property of the complainant so that it would be useless for the purpose for which it 'is naturally used.”

See also Panama City v. York, supra, 26 So. 2d 184, Gonzalez v. City of Pensacola, 65 Fla. 241, 61 So. 503, and State Road Department v. Tharp, 146 Fla. 745, 1 So. 2d 868.

We have no difficulty with the point that the acts of Eastern Air Lines, or some of them, are alleged to have antedated plaintiffs’ acquisition of the property. As-Sir John Salmond observed, it is no defense to an action of this character that the plaintiff “came to the nuisance,” for “the maxim Volenti non fit injuria is capable of no such application.” Salmond on Torts, 4th Ed., p. 219, citing Elliotson v. Feetham, 2 Bing. N.C. 134, and Bliss v. Hall, 4 Bing.N.C. 183. The same rule is general in this country. Campbell v. Seaman, 63 N.Y. 568, 20 Am.Rep. 567; Judson v. Giant Powder Co., 107 Cal. 549, 40 P. 1020, 29 L.R.A. 718; Risher v. Acken Coal Co., 147 Iowa 459, 124 N.W. 764; Harper on Torts, Sec. 193, p. 395; Prosser on Torts, Sec. 75, pp. 599-600.

Appellee Town of Miami Springs seeks'to justify the order of the trial cqurt by arguing that the parties defendant were not joint tort-feasors, because they performed different acts at different times. But assuming, without deciding, that this contention is correct, it is immediately answered by reference to the clear mandate of Rule 1.18, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure (in effect when this suit was filed) that “Misjoinder of parties shall not be ground for dismissal of an action.”

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

DREW, C. J., and THOMAS and THORNAL, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Dep't OF Transp. v. Burnette, 384 So. 2d 916 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980)
    …Department established the offending drainage pattern. It is no defense to this action, so conceived, that the drainage system was already in place when Burnette bought this acreage and so “came to the nuisance.” Lawrence v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 81 So. 2d 632, 634 (Fla.1955); Prosser, Law of Torts (4th ed.), Section 91 at p. 611: The prevailing rule is that in the absence of a prescriptive right the defendant cannot condemn the surrounding premises to endure the nuisance, and that the purchaser is entit…
  • …of surface waters on plaintiffs’ land, allegedly due to independent acts of the defendants which, operating concurrently, caused the injuries complained of. The substance of the complaint is related in Lawrence v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., Fla.1955, 81 So. 2d 632, 634, in which this court held that the complaint stated a cause of action under the rule of Brumley v. Dorner, 78 Fla. 495, 83 So. 912, that “No person has the right to gather surface waters that would naturally flow in one direction by drainage, d…
  • Elliott v. Hernando Cnty. & Auto-Owners Ins. Co., 281 So. 2d 395 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973)
    …merits is irrelevant. Kest v. Nathanson, Fla.App.1968, 216 So. 2d 233. The amended complaint in the case sub judice is sufficient under our liberal system of pleading to state a cause of action for damages. Lawrence v. Eastern Air Lines, Fla.1955, 81 So. 2d 632; Town of Miami Springs v. Lawrence, Fla.1958, 102 So. 2d 143. The complaint alleges that by reason of the artificial construction and diversion of the natural flow of rain waters appellants’ real property has been rendered unusable and in an unsani…

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