Dalton v. Demos Bros. General Contractors, Inc.
| Decision Date | 29 June 1956 |
| Parties | Douglas B. S. DALTON and another, v. DEMOS BROTHERS GENERAL CONTRACTORS, Incorporated. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Allan Green, Boston, for plaintiffs.
Bertram A. Sugarman, Boston (Edward J. Barshak, Boston, with him), for defendant.
Before QUA, C. J., and WILKINS, WILLIAMS, COUNIHAN and WHITTEMORE, JJ.
This is an action to recover damages for injury to the plaintiffs' house in Melrose resulting from the negligence of the defendant in blasting rocks during its construction of a trench for the metropolitan district commission. There was evidence that there were at least twenty-five blasts continuing regularly through June, July, August, September, and October, 1949. Damage to the ceiling of the plaintiff's sun porch was first noticed early in June. A crack appeared in the west wall and during the summer plaster seeped down in all the rooms of the house except the bathroom and kitchen.
In the absence of negligence a person carrying on blasting operations is not liable for consequential harm caused by concussion and vibration, Jenkins v. A. G. Tomasello & Son, Inc., 286 Mass. 180, 186, 189 N.E. 817; Coughlan v. Grande & Son, Inc., 332 Mass. 464, 467, 125 N.E.2d 778; and it is agreed that the only blast which could have been found negligent was one occurring on October 27. At that time three sticks of dynamite were used to explode a large boulder sixty-five feet from the house. As a result 'The house shook, windows and china rattled and soft spots appeared in the plaster.' Damage in addition to that which had occurred in the previous summer was discovered. There were
Blasting operations were continued after October 27. The plaintiff, Douglas B. S. Dalton, who owned the property jointly with his wife, testified that the fair market value of the house before the blasting started was $22,000 and after was $17,000. There was evidence that it would cost $1,400 to repair all the damage to the house from the blasting. A motion by the defendant for a directed verdict was denied subject to its exception, and the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs in the amount of $1,000.
It is the contention of the defendant that a finding of the damage caused by the one negligent blast could only be based on surmise and conjecture and that it was entitled to a directed verdict.
It is of course true that damages must be reasonably ascertainable from the evidence. Gagnon v. Sperry & Hutchinson...
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