Tiede v. Schneidt

• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: CASSODAY
• Citation: Tiede v. Schneidt, 105 Wis. 470, 81 N.W. 826 (Wis. 1900)
• Decision Date: 02 February 1900
• Parties: TIEDE v. SCHNEIDT ET AL.

105 Wis. 470

81 N.W. 826

TIEDE

v.SCHNEIDT ET AL.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Feb. 2, 1900.

Appeal from superior court, Milwaukee county; J. E. Ludwig, Judge.

Action by Frederick Tiede against A. L. Schneidt and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.N. S. Murphey and Wheeler & Perry, for appellant.

V. W. Seeley and Quarles, Spence & Quarles, for respondents.

CASSODAY, C. J.

This action was commenced September 24, 1897, to have a certain structure and establishment maintained by the defendants, where dead animals and the carcasses and offal therefrom are converted and manufactured into marketable products, located upon the land described, upon the banks of the Menominee river, adjudged to be a private nuisance to the plaintiff, and to abate the same, and to recover damages on account thereof, and for an injunction. The plaintiff alleges, in effect, the facts stated, and also that the defendants have maintained such plant ever since August 26, 1897; that during that time the defendants have daily caused the blood and offal from such animals to be deposited in the waters of the Menominee river, a running stream flowing through the town of Wauwatosa, and through the cities of Wauwatosa and Milwaukee, and the waters of which by such deposits were and are polluted, and rendered unwholesome and unfit for use for watering stock or any domestic purpose; that, by reason of such deposits and the operation of such plant, the air became impregnated with unwholesome vapors and smells emitted therefrom, to the irreparable injury and nuisance of the plaintiff. The defendant Schneidt answered by way of admissions, denials, and counter allegations, to the effect that the structure and plant mentioned had been conducted and operated for more than 21 years in substantially the same way, and with the same results, as on August 26, 1897, and since, and expressly denied that any blood or offal of dead animals, or part thereof, or putrid substance, had been deposited in the river, or that the establishment had become or was or is a nuisance to the plaintiff or to any one. At the close of the trial the court found, as matters of fact, in effect, that the plaintiff is, and for more than three years last past has been, the owner in fee and in possession of the lot described, together with the dwelling house thereon, in which he resides and has resided during such period; that at the time of the commencement of this action the defendant Schneidt was maintaining, and for many years next preceding that time has continuously maintained and operated, upon the premises described in the complaint, an establishment for the manufacture of hair, and for a number of years next prior to the commencement of this action had used such establishment for the purpose of rendering dead animals, and converting their substance into a merchantable product; that during such time he has, on an average, rendered daily one or more dead horses and other dead animals; that the premises described contained eight acres of land; that the defendant city of Milwaukee never maintained or operated the establishment, but that ever since August 26, 1897, until the commencement of this action, that city delivered to the defendant Schneidt, at his establishment, such dead animals as were found in the streets of that city, for the purpose of havingthe carcasses thereof rendered by the defendant Schneidt at his establishment; that at all times since August 26, 1897, the carcasses of dead animals which have been treated in such establishment have been rendered in air-tight and steam-tight tanks, so that none of the gases or effluvia from the process of rendering could escape into the open air, except on one occasion, occurring in May, 1898, when, by accident, the steam packing around the manhole in one of the tanks was blown out by the force of the steam, and such gases and effluvia escaped for a few hours, until the damaged apparatus could be repaired, and on one or two occasions prior to August 26, 1897, and before the apparatus of the defendant Schneidt had been perfected; that the defendants have not, nor has either of them, in any way polluted the waters of the Menominee river; that the waste steam from the rendering tanks of the defendant Schneidt is, and has been at all times, condensed and conducted into a covered catch-basin, and thence into the drain hereinafter mentioned; that large quantities of water used in the defendant's establishment flow into the drain, which is described in the testimony; that the drain runs into and through another catch-basin, having a strainer on the outlet thereof, and thence a distance of several hundred feet into the Menominee river; that the defendants have not, nor has the establishment, except on the single occasion mentioned, polluted or contaminated the air so as to materially or substantially impair the comfortable enjoyment by the plaintiff and his family of his and their residence, nor has the establishment or the defendant in any way materially interfered with or impaired the comfortable enjoyment of the plaintiff's premises; that the only connection the city of Milwaukee has had with the establishment arises from the fact that the health department of that city entered into an agreement with the defendant Schneidt that, if he would render and dispose of the carcasses of dead animals found in that city in an inoffensive and sanitary manner, it (the health department of that city) would cause the carcasses to be delivered at the establishment of the defendant Schneidt; that the locality in which the establishment of the defendant Schneidt is located is, on account of its situation and surroundings, particularly adapted for such manufacturing establishment, and is not adapted to residence purposes, except to the residences of such persons as may be connected with the industrial establishments which are or may be located in that neighborhood; that at all times since August 26, 1897, all carcasses of animals treated at the establishment of the defendant Schneidt have been converted into merchantable products, viz. grease and fertilizers, which products are, and at all times have been, innocuous and inoffensive to the neighborhood; that the establishment of the defendant Schneidt is not, and has not been since August 26, 1897, a nuisance to the premises of the plaintiff. And as conclusions of law the court...