Alexander v. Wilkes-Barre Anthracite Coal Co.
Alexander v. Wilkes-Barre Anthracite Coal Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Defendant corporation operates a colliery situated along North Pennsylvania avenue, in the City of Wilkes-Barre, which was opened and first operated in 1882. In 1902 or 1903, following- a suspension of mining for a time, and previous to renewing operations, improvements were made to the plant by the erection of a new breaker, a boiler plant and a washery; and later, in 1913, by the installation of four additional boilers. The new buildings were erected on the site of structures that had been in existence since 1882. In 1908 a receiver was appointed for the company at that time owning the colliery, and in 1910 the property was sold at receiver’s sale; subsequently becoming vested in defendant company, and since that time operated by it. In 1909 Elizabeth C. Alexander, plaintiff’s mother, the other defendant, purchased a lot of ground on North Pennsylvania avenue opposite the colliery, and erected a dwelling- thereon in which she and her family have since resided. Following the resumption of mining at the colliery in 1910, Mrs. Alexander, through her son, the plaintiff in these proceedings, complained to defendant company of annoyance, and damage to her property, by dust escaping from the breaker, and the vibration caused by a ventilating fan operated on defendant’s premises, and requested that the cause of the injury be abated. On the company’s failure to suppress, or lessen, the vibration caused by the fan, a bill in equity was filed by Mrs. Alexander to enjoin its use; and in 1913 a second proceeding was instituted in which she alleged damage to her dwelling due to the operation of the washery. Both proceedings are pending and undetermined. In the meantime complaint
The City of Wilkes-Barre is located in the anthracite coal mining regions, there being at least seven other coal mining operations within the limits of the city near the location of defendant’s mine, and in addition to these industries the locality contains a number of manufacturing and other enterprises. Defendant’s colliery has been in operation since 1882, with the exception of about three years, and represents an investment of half a million dollars. In .connection with the mining of anthracite
Plaintiff in his bill further avers defendant violated the provisions of the mining law of June 2, 1891, P. L. 176, by — (1) erecting its breaker within two hundred feet of the mouth of the main hoisting shaft, (2) in constructing the washery in too close proximity to the fan house, and (3) in not properly placing and erecting the boilers above referred to. These violations of the act, assuming them to be such, the court below has found did not in any way injure or affect plaintiff in either his health or his property. As stated before a new breaker was built in 1903 on the site of the original one of 1882, and, upon application by the mine inspector for an injunction to restrain the rebuilding of the structure, the court dissolved the preliminary injunction, and in the present case held the decree in that case to be res ad judicata of the question whether in that respect there was a violation of the mining laws. Aside from this, plaintiff is without standing to complain of infractions of the mining laws in a proceeding of this character. The complaint here is that he is being inconvenienced and damaged by smoke, noise and dust, caused by the proximity of defendant’s works to his residence and the vibration of machinery used in operating its plant. It does not appear how compliance with the mining laws with respect to the location of buildings would, in any way, lessen the nuisance complained of. So far as the evidence shows the structures might be separated as required by the act, and yet be, perhaps, as near plaintiff’s property as now situated or possibly nearer. The sole question raised here is whether or not plaintiff is damaged, and if so, has he the right to restrain the operation of the plant, if necessary to avoid a continuation of the •damage. The finding of the court below is that plaintiff is not affected by the relative location of the defendant’s buildings with respect to each other, and a review of the evidence has convinced us of the correctness of this con
Neither does the Act of June 19,1871, P. L. 1360, assist-plaintiff. That act merely gives a private citizen the right to contest the power or authority of a corporation to do certain things injurious to private rights, and to decide whether the franchise to do the particular act has been conferred upon the corporation. Under its provisions the inquiry is limited to the question whether there was a grant to do the thing complained of. If so, the court is without authority to interfere: Blauch v. Johnstown Water Co., 247 Pa. 71. In the case cited it was said, quoting from Western Penna. R. R. Co.’s App., 104 Pa. 399: “The Act of 1871 contemplates nothing more than that it shall be made to appear from the charter that the corporation has the power to do the particular act in controversy, and which involves some right of the contestant, but when we get beyond this we assume something with which we have no business in a collateral proceeding: we assume to assert the right of a third party, the Commonwealth, who may or may not at her ' own option insist upon the observance of those rights.”
The decree is affirmed.
Reference
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- Alexander v. Wilkes-Barre Anthracite Coal Company
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- Syllabus
- Nuisance — Mines and mining — Proper operation — Equity—Injunction — Evidence—Failure to call witness — Mining laws — Violation — Eight of individual to complain. 1. A private action for a public nuisance can be maintained only by one who suffers some particular loss or damage beyond that suffered by all others affected by the nuisance. Interference with a common right does not-of itself afford á cause of action by an individual. 2. So long as a mining company carries on its business in the ordinary' way, and adopts and uses the precautions usually and customarily prevailing in the operation of such plants, it is not accountable for the incidental annoyances and damages that necessarily follow its mining operations. 3. Where in a suit in equity to restrain a mining company from carrying on its mining operations, plaintiff alleged that the operation of the mine was a nuisance, and it appeared that under order of court plaintiff’s engineer was allowed access to the breaker and other structures for the purpose of inspecting the appliances used in order to ascertain if anything was being done or omitted which would lessen the nuisance complained of, and such engineer was not called to testify at the hearing of the case, the court was justified in taking into consideration the absence of the witness and in assuming that he found no violation of the law and no existing conditions which a proper operation of the plant or .the adoption of other appliances, would remedy. 4. Where in such case it appeared that the mine was carried on in the usual manner, and that although there were violations of the State mining laws, relating to the construction of the breaker, such violations in no way contributed to the injury of plaintiff, the lower court did not err in dismissing the bill. 5. Under the Act of June 19, 1871, P. L. 1360, giving a private citizen the right to contest the power or authority of a corporation, to do acts injurious to private rights, and to decide whether the franchise to do the particular act has been conferred upon the corporation, the injury is limited to the question whether there was authority to do the thing complained of, and if it appear from the charter that the corporation has the power to do the particular act in controversy, the court is not warranted by the statute in restraining the doing of the act in question, at the suit of a private citizen whose rights are injured.