O'Hair v. California Prune & Apricot Growers Ass'n

PULLEN, P. J.

Plaintiff brought this action for damages and to enjoin the continuance of a nuisance by defendants upon her lands.

In 1912 the City of Colusa acquired a permanent right to discharge sewage into a slough flowing through the lands of plaintiff. In 1912 a prune processing plant was erected by Growers Packing & Warehousing Association, Inc., outside of but contiguous to the limits of the City of Colusa, and by permission of the city the sewer-pipes of said plant were connected with the sewer system of the city, and the waste waters from the plant which was operated by defend

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ant California Prune and Apricot Growers Association, a corporation, together with the sewage of the city, were conveyed through the septic system of the municipality and discharged into a slough on the lands of plaintiff. Neither the packing plant nor the city obtained the consent of plaintiff nor her predecessor in interest to thus dispose of the waters from the packing plant, and plaintiff now seeks damages for injuries to her lands, claiming the waters from the plant are impregnated with lye and other chemicals which create offensive odors, make the waters of the slough unfit for livestock to drink, and injure the lands for farming purposes.

The trial court found that the sewage and waste waters from the packing plant contained no alkali or other chemicals, but consisted only of water; that such discharge of sewage upon the lands of plaintiff was continuous, open, notorious and uninterrupted under claim of right and adverse to plaintiff and her predecessors and had so been since the erection of said plant in 1922, and that no damage was suffered by plaintiff whatsoever.

As to each of these findings plaintiff objects and appeals from the judgment based thereon.

As to the claim for damages, it was established that the City of Colusa had acquired a permanent right to discharge its sewage into a slough on to the lands of the plaintiff, and there was no showing that the city was limited as to quantity or type of sewage that could be thus discharged into the slough.

It furthermore appeared from the testimony of competent witnesses that the only sewage from the packing plant consisted of hot water and contained no lye, soda or chemicals of any kind whatsoever, and was entirely free from any obnoxious gas or odors.