City of Water Valley v. Poteete
| Decision Date | 09 February 1948 |
| Docket Number | 36664. |
| Citation | 203 Miss. 382,33 So.2d 794 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | CITY OF WATER VALLEY v. POTEETE et al. |
Kermit R. Cofer, of Water Valley, and Creekmore & Creekmore, of Jackson, for appellant.
John Horan, of Water Valley, and James Stone & Sons, of Oxford, for appellees.
Appellees are the owners of residence lots abutting on Eckford Street in appellant city. About four years prior to the institution of this suit, appellees had constructed as valuable residence on said lots, the location being such that the foundation of the residence was situated above the level of the grade of Eckford Street as then established, and was wholly free from damages or danger of damage by surface waters from said street. Three years later, according to the allegations of the bill, the city so changed the grades of said street as to cast large quantities of rain water upon appellees' residence lot and into the basement of the residence on every occasion of any hard rain, greatly to the damage of appellees' property.
Appellees by their bill in equity prayed that the court grant a mandatory injunction by which the city would be commanded to alter the work done by the city on said street so as to prevent the casting of the waters from said street upon appellees' residence lot. After citation, a preliminary hearing on the application for the injunction was had and the injunction was granted. Within the time allowed to answer the city demurred to the bill on the ground that it presented no case for interference by a court of equity, but, at most a cause of action at law for damages. A motion to dissolve the injunction was later presented, but both the demurrer and the motion to dissolve were overruled.
That the municipality is liable to an abutting property owner who had made valuable improvements according to the prior established grade of the street, when the municipality raises or lowers the grade to the damage of the property owner, was settled in this state in Vicksburg v. Herman, 72 Miss. 211, 16 So. 434, and is not now open to further debate this by virtue of Section 17, Constitution 1890, that 'private property shall not be taken or damaged * * * except on due compensation * * * to the owner or owners thereof * * *.'
The precise question here presented is the further inquiry whether an abutting property owner may enjoin the raising or lowering of the street on the showing...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
City of Gulfport v. Anderson, 07-58431
...is where a change in road grade casts increased quantities of waters upon landowner's property. See, e.g., City of Water Valley v. Poteete, 203 Miss. 382, 33 So.2d 794, 795-96 (1948). Persons owning property abutting streets such as Courthouse Road enjoy a right of reasonable access. That a......
-
City of Jackson v. Cook, 38354
...on the question under consideration, is governed by the principles set out in Thompson v. Philadelphia, supra, and City of Water Valley v. Poteete, 203 Miss. 382, 33 So.2d 794. In those cases it was announced that while municipalities have the right to alter, change, construct and reconstru......
-
Douglas v. Wayne County
...with their judgment in such construction. In this may be found a vital distinction between this case and City of Water Valley v. Poteete, 203 Miss. 382, 33 So.2d 794, relied upon by the learned chancellor, where the effort was to require the mayor and aldermen to change the elevation of the......
-
Stigall v. Sharkey County
...interfere with their judgment in such construction. In this may be found a vital distinction between this case and City of Water Valley v. Poteete, 203 Miss. 382, 33 So.2d 794, relied upon by the learned chancellor, where the effort was to require the mayor and aldermen to change the elevat......