O'Neill v. Carolina Freight Carriers Corp.
| Decision Date | 02 July 1968 |
| Citation | 156 Conn. 613,244 A.2d 372 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | Victoria E. O'NEILL et al. v. CAROLINA FREIGHT CARRIERS CORPORATION. |
William W. Sprague, Hartford, with whom was John R. FitzGerald, Hartford, for appellant (defendant).
Norris L. O'Neill, Hartford, for appellees (plaintiffs).
Before KING, C.J., and ALCORN, HOUSE, COTTER and THIM, JJ.
This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment which, by injunction, regulated the use and operation of its truck terminal, which is on the westerly side of route 5 in an industrial zone in East Windsor.
The finding is not subject to correction in any respect which would be of material advantage to the defendant. The terminal was constructed and has been in operation since July, 1964. The use is one permitted in the industrial zone. The plaintiffs, Victoria and Maurice O'Neill, own and occupy a residence on premises immediately north of the terminal. They purchased the property in June, 1962. Although the residential use of premises within the industrial zone has not been permitted since 1960, the plaintiffs' use of their property is a nonconforming one since the house was constructed prior to that date. The plaintiffs knew that their property was in an industrial zone when they purchased it.
The complaint alleged that the defendant's operation of its trucking terminal constituted a nuisance which injured, disturbed and annoyed the plaintiffs in the enjoyment of their property. By way of relief they claimed damages, punitive damages, attorney's fee and an injunction forbidding the defendant to create any sound or light on its terminal which would injure, disturb or annoy them.
In a lengthy finding, the court described the details of the defendant's operation of its terminal. The defendant is engaged in both long-distance and short-distance hauling of merchandise. Fifteen trucks, of which eleven are tractor-trailers, are used for short-distance hauls, and twenty-five to thirty long-haul tractor-trailers come in from the South in the course of a week. Pickups are made during the day and loading for southern destinations usually takes place in the evening hours but may take place all night. The peak of activity at the terminal variers from between 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Large tractor-trailer diesel trucks used in connection with the long-distance hauling enter and leave the terminal during the entire night. While parked, the motors of refrigerator tractor-trailers must be kept running to maintain a constant for the merchandise in the trailers. When a trailer is backed against a dock and is unhooked, the brakes are automatically locked and cannot be released until the compressor, powered by the motor, builds up enough air pressure to release them, a process which takes up to fifteen minutes. The terminal is a large brick building with an amesite area for truck movements on all sides. It has docking facilities which will accommodate twenty-one trucks, ten each on the north and south sides and one on the west side. The defendant uses an average of fifteen units at docks in the course of an evening. Hand trucks, fork lifts, conveyors and dollies are used for moving merchandise from the trucks into and out of the terminal. Magnesium plates are used to bridge the gaps between the trailers when they are parked against the terminal and the dock. These, when dropped in use, land on either concrete or steel and make a loud noise. The air brakes on the defendant's trucks make a very loud, shrill, hissing noise. The heating and cooling units which run when the trailers are parked make a highpitched noise. Loud radio noise, hollering, scraping noises, noises of metal hitting metal with great force, as well as loud impact noises and vibrations are carried from the defendant's terminal to the residence of the plaintiffs, and the defendant's floodlights shine directly into the plaintiffs' living room from dark until 6 a.m. Each party produced an expert witness who testified about the sound levels which he found in the area, as to the scientific aspects of sound measurement and as to the level of noise emanating from the defendant's terminal.
The court also found that the plaintiffs are normal persons of ordinary habits and sensibilities, that the defendant's terminal, as operated, has interfered with their sleep and required Mrs. O'Neill to go to her daughter's home to sleep one or two nights a week in order to get relief from the noise of the defendant's operation, that as a result of loss of sleep Mr. O'Neill has been irritable and unable properly to conduct his business and that the O'Neills have...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Dornfried v. October Twenty-Four, Inc.
...was within the trial court's discretion to limit the scope of the injunction to this illegal activity. O'Neill v. Carolina Freight Carriers Corp., 156 Conn. 613, 618, 244 A.2d 372 (1968) (issuance of injunction and scope and quantum of injunctive relief rests in sound discretion of trial co......
-
Westchester County v. Town of Greenwich
...legal standards.'" Haczela v. City of Bridgeport, 299 F.Supp. 709, 711-12 (D.Conn.1969) (quoting O'Neill v. Carolina Freight Carriers Corp., 156 Conn. 613, 617, 244 A.2d 372 (1968)). We begin with the proposition that growing trees on one's own property is not normally an unreasonable activ......
-
Tomasso Bros., Inc. v. October Twenty-Four, Inc.
...an appeal. 14 Our case law also suggests that the stay of a prohibitory injunction is not automatic. In O'Neill v. Carolina Freight Carriers Corp., 156 Conn. 613, 244 A.2d 372 (1968), this court reviewed the trial court's issuance of a permanent prohibitory injunction. Earlier in the proced......
-
Cologne v. Westfarms Associates, 260773
...and beliefs. The issuance of an injunction rests in the sound discretion of the trial court. O'Neill v. Carolina Freight Carriers Corporation, 156 Conn. 613, 618, 244 A.2d 372 (1968). Relief by way of a mandatory injunction is an extraordinary remedy granted only under compelling circumstan......