Wilson v. City of Eminence
Wilson v. City of Eminence
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming.
Appellant, Dr. Wilson, brought this action against the city of Eminence to recover damages for overflow of his lawn and premises in that city caused, as alleged', by the city raising the grade of its street in front of his premises so as to cast the water from the street and land adjacent thereto on to appellant’s property. A jury trial resulted in a verdict for the- city, and Dr. Wilson appeals.
On his lot are two residences. Through the lot runs a stream of water, referred to as a branch. The whole of his lot, in so far as the evidence shows, is low. Adjacent to it is a hill or slight elevation. From time immemorial the water from the higher ground around his premises has been cast upon this lot. Some .years ago his predecessor in title brought an action of this same na
Without holding that the evidence was insufficient to ©arry the case to the jury, we will examine the complaint made by appellant of the instructions given by the court to the jury, and rest our decision there. He insists that the instruction on the measure of damages was incorrect, and says the criterion of recovery is the difference between the market value of the property immediately before the street improvement was begun and its market value immediately after the improvement was completed, excluding any benefits that might have resulted to the property from the construction and improvement of the street in front of it, and relies upon sections 13 and 242 of our Constitution and the cases of Broadway Coal Mining Co. v. Smith, 136 Ky. 725; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. White Villa Club, 155 Ky. 452; City of Henderson v. McClain, 102 Ky. 402. We think appellant correctly
While appellant claims that the trial court allowed the introduction by the defendant of incompetent evidence and declined to allow appellant to introduce competent evidence, a careful review of the record before us fails to sustain his contentions.
For the reasons indicated the judgment is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.