Owens v. City of Lancaster

Citations

• 182 Pa. 257
• 37 A. 858
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 803

Syllabus

<p>Waters — Use of open stream as sewer — Municipality—Negligence.</p> <p>Where a municipality adopts a stream as an open sewer it is bound to keep open the channel of the stream and to remove accumulations of filth, ashes or other material that obstruct the flow of the water and throw it out of its banks upon the land of adjoining owners. There can be no prescriptive right to neglect so plain a municipal duty.</p> <p>In an action against a city to recover damages for injuries caused by the use of a stream as an open sewer, the evidence for the plaintiffs tended to show that the use of the stream as a sewer created an increase in the natural flowage of the stream, so that in the times of ordinary rains the banks of the stream were overflowed, the plaintiffs’ land was washed with sewage, the banks of the stream were broken down and washed away, and considerable quantities of filthy and offensive refuse were allowed to accumulate on the banks and in the stream, which not only obstructed the flow, but emitted disgusting, unhealthy and injurious odors over the plaintiffs’ land and buildings to such a degree as to render the same uninhabitable, and to prevent the owners from renting the same for any sum whatever. jReid, that the case was for the jury.</p>