Keiser v. Mahanoy City Gas Co.

Citations

• 143 Pa. 276
• 22 A. 759
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 922

Syllabus

<p>[To be reported.]</p> <p>1. A depreciation in the selling or rental value of real estate, by reason of the establishment of a lawful but undesirable business in its vicinity, does not give a cause of action; nor does the fact that such business is a source of some personal discomfort and annoyance, so long as it is conducted in a lawful manner.</p> <p>2. To maintain an action for nuisance against the proprietor of a lawful business, carried on in the neighborhood of plaintiff’s premises, it must be shown that the plaintiff has suffered a substantial injury, because of an unlawful act or of an act of negligence, on the part of the defend.ant, in the conduct of the business.</p> <p>3. In an action against a gas company for negligently suffering waste products to be carried by a stream to the plaintiff’s hotel, the noisome odors causing sickness in the plaintiff’s family and a loss of custom at the hotel, such facts as fairly exhibit the extent of his losses must be laid before the jury; a mere conjecture cannot be substituted therefor.</p> <p>4. The fact that the defendant continued the negligent practice complained of after the suit was brought, is, if shown, a proper subject for consideration in determining whether exemplary damages should be awarded or not; but the fact that such practice was continued during the pendency of a bill in equity to restrain it, has no bearing upon this question.</p> <p>5. And it is error to instruct the jury to inquire whether or not a preliminary injunction granted upon such bill was violated by the defendant; it is not the violation of an order of a court of equity, but some act of wantonness directed toward the plaintiff, that must be found by the jury as a basis for exemplary damages.</p>