Norfolk County Water Co. v. Etheridge

Citations

• 120 Va. 379
• 91 S.E. 133
• 1917 Va. LEXIS 117

Syllabus

<p>1. Nuisances—Number of Actions—Limitation of Actions.—Repeated actions may, as a general rule, be brought to recover for nuisances as long as the nuisance continues; but where there is a permanent nuisance, the consequences of which, in the normal course of things, will continue indefinitely, there can be but a single action therefor, and the entire damage suffered, both past and future, must be recovered in that action, and the right to recover will be barred unless it is brought within the prescribed number of years from the time the cause of action accrued.</p> <p>2. Waters and Watercourses—Overflowing Lands—Damages.— Defendant company built an enormous dam and reservoir across a natural watercourse. The lake of water formed by this structure interfered with the natural drainage to the plaintiff’s land, and the water from the artificial lake backed upon plaintiff’s farm, causing the injuries complained of. As the dam was a permanent structure and the injuries to the land flowing from it were not of a recurrent and intermittent character, but were permanent in their nature, there can be but one recovery for such injury, which would include all the damage sustained, both past and future, and there can be no recovery for damage to crops put out since the cause of action accrued, as such damages are included in the single judgment for permanent damages. But the damage to a crop which was put out during the construction of the dam and before its injurious effect was known, can be recovered.</p> <p>3. Waters and Watercourses—Measure of Damages to Land From Dam.—Where a dam causes permanent injuries to another’s land, the measure of damages is the difference in the market value of the land with and without the dam, to be computed as of the time immedately before the dam was built and immediately after it was finished and filled with water.</p>