De Long v. Warren
De Long v. Warren
Opinion of the Court
This action was brought to recover damages caused by the regrading of a street upon which plaintiff is an abutting proprietor. The complaint was not verified. The answer denied all the allegations of the complaint, and averred that the acts complained of consisted in the performance by him of the work of grading Frederick street, between De Long avenue and Ashbury street, in the city and county of San Francisco; that the work was done in a good and workmanlike manner and not otherwise; and that the damage to the property of plaintiff, if any, is by reason of the lot of the plaintiff being below the official grade of said street as established by the board of supervisors. The court found that the plaintiff was the owner of a lot having a frontage of one hundred and eighty-five feet on Frederick street, in the city and county of San Francisco, and extending to the center of said street; that on June 1, 1890, the defendant entered upon said street, and dumped rock, sand, gravel and other material into and upon the street in front of plaintiff’s lot, and'raised the grade five feet above what it was previously; that plaintiff was injured thereby, her grounds lessened in value, etc., to the extent of $350, which injury and damage is peculiar to her property, and does not affect the property of any other landed proprietor, etc.; that defendant is continuing and threatens to continue said trespass, etc., and will do so unless restrained. The court concluded the acts a nuisance, and rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff for $350, and enjoined defendant from further and like acts in the premises. Defendant appealed from the judgment and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.
We are of opinion the judgment and order appealed from should be affirmed. Conceding, without deciding, that defendant could, without pleading the facts in justification of his acts, show that the grade of Frederick street had been
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DE LONG v. WARREN
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Public Street—Changing Grade—Damages.—Under Constitution of 1879, article 1, section 14, providing that private property shall not be taken “or damaged” for public use without just compensation having been first made, damages peculiar to property of an abutting owner may be recovered of one who fills earth into a street to conform to a new grade to which it had been lawfully changed, though he is duly authorized to do so.1