Colombo v. Peters
Colombo v. Peters
Opinion of the Court
This is a lateral support case involving adjoining property owners. Plaintiff charges that defendants caused or permitted soil or fill to be dug and removed from their lands, thereby removing the lateral support due plaintiff’s property. Plaintiff seeks a mandatory injunction to require defendants to erect some suitable retaining wall or cribbing so as to furnish lateral support for plaintiff’s property. Damages are also demanded.
The testimony presented at the trial established that the digging and removal of fill was begun on the easterly or front end of the property now owned by defendants about 30 years ago and continued intermittently for 10 or 15 years, the purpose being to level off the land at approximately street grade. When these operations ceased about 1940 the prop
Plaintiff concedes that as yet none of her land has subsided or collapsed. What she is fearful of is that there will be a subsidence or collapse of her land in the future because the
Turning now to plaintiff’s claims for relief we find that the count for money damages must fail because plaintiff has as yet suffered no damages. The right to lateral support is the right to have one’s land supported so that it will remain in its natural state and will not fall away or subside. McGuire v. Grant, 25 N. J. L. 356 (Sup. Ct. 1856). Until, therefore, plaintiff’s land actually subsides or falls away, there has been no damage. It is true that plaintiff’s real estate expert estimated that plaintiff’s property had depreciated between 10 %a and 15% in value because it would be impossible to make full use of it. This witness’ testimony as to damage however was predicated on the supposition that in the future the southerly side of plaintiff’s lands would subside and that therefore that part was presently unusable. Such testimony cannot be accepted. It is entirely too speculative. As a matter of fact, the plaintiff has made use of her land right up to the property line and there is no evidence that any part of her property is presently unusable.
3 Tiffany, Beal Properly (3rd ed.), § 752, page 187, states:
“This right of lateral support involves no right to have the neighboring land remain in its natural state or position, but merely the right to have one’s own land remain in its natural position. Consequently a landowner cannot complain of the making of excavations on the neighboring land, provided measures are taken, by the substitution of artificial support, to prevent the falling away of his own land, and there is no right of action for damages on account of such excavations on neighboring land, although they are such as may reasonably be expected to cause a subsidence of one’s own land, ■until such subsidence actually occurs.’’ (Italics mine.)
McGuire v. Grant, supra, at page 368:
“The decided weight of authority and sound principle concur in support of the position, that there is incident to land, in its natural condition, a right to support from the adjoining land; and that if the land sinks or falls away in consequence of the removal of such support, the owner is entitled to damages to the extent of the injury sustained.”
It is, of course, true that even without actual subsidence, if a plaintiff establishes that her neighbor has removed the lateral support due her lands and there is imminent danger that plaintiff’s lands will cave in and damage will result, a court of equity could order the defendant to supply artificial lateral support at his own expense. Gerhard v. Fichter, 12 N. J. Super. 265 (Ch. Div. 1951). This relief would be in the nature of a mandatory injunction and is of such a drastic nature that it is only awarded where plaintiff’s claim has been clearly established and the threatened injury shown to be irreparable. 4 Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence (5th ed.), § 1359a.
Plaintiff’s claim for injunctive relief fails to measure up to either of these requirements. After hearing all of the
The several buildings on plaintiff’s lands admittedly could not be damaged by any possible subsidence because they are all 40 or more feet away from the southerly property line. In addition, plaintiff’s lands are part of the side of a hill and in keeping with the terrain, most of her property is presently used for casual agricultural purposes. To develop her property to any extent would require extensive grading and levelling. This is best indicated by the fact that when plaintiff built a home for her daughter on the rear of her property it was necessary to excavate several feet into the side of the hill in order to level off the plot. It would seem, therefore, that any damage which plaintiff might suffer would not be of an irreparable nature but would be more of a technical invasion of her property rights than anything else.
There will be a judgment for defendants reserving to plaintiff the right to sue for damages if her property actually falls in or subsides.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.