Wiggins v. Brazil Coal and Clay Corp.
| Decision Date | 01 September 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 883S315,883S315 |
| Citation | 452 N.E.2d 958 |
| Parties | Charles A. WIGGINS and Ruth P. Wiggins d/b/a Sugar Ridge Lake Estates; Jack Stevenson, James M. Deady and Audrey C. Deady, Norris E. Sherman and Lois M. Sherman, Hubert A. Scheidler and Ruth G. Scheidler, Eugene D. Walters and Antoinette A. Walters, Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., and Gail G. Sullivan, Wayne Karanovich and Martha G. Karanovich, Robert G. Trout and Marilyn L. Trout, Don E. Handlin, Carl R. Shepherd and Virginia L. Shepherd, Appellants, v. BRAZIL COAL AND CLAY CORPORATION, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
In this case the owners of a strip pit in Clay County, Indiana sued a strip mining company for damages and an injunction for causing the loss of water from their strip pit. The trial judge made special findings of fact and entered his conclusions of law and final judgment in favor of the defendant coal stripping company. On appeal, the First District Court of Appeals at 440 N.E.2d 495 reversed and in so doing modified case law by adopting the Restatement of Torts provisions for determining the liability of users of ground water. Transfer is granted and the opinion of the Court of Appeals is vacated.
Appellants accept the accuracy of the trial judge's findings of fact. They are clear and straightforward and describe the nature of this case, and are stated as follows:
"1. Plaintiffs are owners of certain real estate situated in the North half of Section 9, Township 11 North, Range 6 West in Clay County, Indiana, upon which was located a fresh water lake of ten acres or more, hereinafter referred to as the 'lake.'
2. The lake was formed prior to 1960 as a result of a strip-mining coal operation. The lake was located South of Centerpoint Road which runs East and West, and East of a county road running North and South.
3. The Stevenson tract consisted of 75 acres at the Southeast quadrant of the intersection of the Centerpoint Road and the North-South road. This land contained approximately one-half of the lake. The Stevensons, at the time this action began, owned an undivided one-half interest in this 75 acres.
4. The eastern one-half (approximately) of the lake lies on a tract of land consisting of 121 acres purchased by plaintiffs Charles A. Wiggins and Ruth P. Wiggins, husband and wife, in April of 1962, from the mining company that created the lake bed. Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins called their property 'Sugar Ridge Lake Estates,' and hereinafter said property will be referred to as 'Sugar Ridge Lake Estates'.
5. The 'Stevenson tract' was composed mainly of spoil bank land, the West half of the lake, and some undisturbed land.
6. Sugar Ridge Lake Estates in April, 1962, consisted of spoil bank land, the East half of the lake, and a number of small ponds.
7. The lake bed was divided by a 'haul road' created by the strip-mining company which was located approximately 15 feet East of the East line of the Stevenson tract, and created a dam of sorts between the two halves of the lake.
8. The lake was not fed by any stream of water, but, instead, was dependent upon percolating and surface waters. The lake was formed slowly and continuously over the years from approximately 1960 until September 1977. In April of 1962, there was approximately 20 to 25 feet of water at the deepest point in the eastern half of the lake, which brought the surface of the lake within three feet of the top of the 'haul road.' In September, 1977, the water surface had reached a level approximately 15 feet higher than the 'haul road.'
9. Between April, 1962, and approximately 1970, Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins used Sugar Ridge Estates for their private enjoyment and made many improvements thereon. In 1970 through 1973, Mr. Wiggins used the lake for catfish farming, and raised thousands of catfish for marketing. He also, during this time, opened the lake to the public for use as a fishing lake for a daily fee.
10. In 1975, Mr. Wiggins closed his catfish farm, closed the lake to the public, and began to develop Sugar Ridge Lake Estates as a subdivision for recreational, residential and retirement homes.
11. Each Plaintiff, other than Jack Stevenson, Charles A. and Ruth P. Wiggins, had purchased lots from Plaintiff Wiggins in Sugar Ridge Estates and owned interests in the East half of said lake.
12. Defendant, Brazil Coal and Clay Corporation, is a surface mining company which began a coal mining operation near Center Point, Indiana in 1975.
13. At the time the controversy arose in 1977, the defendant, a foreign corporation, was strip-mining coal north of the Centerpoint Road and west of the North-South road. It was not a lessee of any ground owned by plaintiffs. Its mining was being conducted by stripping 90 feet wide pits running in a North and South direction and proceeding strip by strip from West to East. Each strip mined required about 30 days to complete.
14. In a surface mining operation such as defendant's, a dragline digs down to the level of the coal seam so that other mining equipment can remove the coal from the pit. The presence of water in the pit creates problems in such operations and can stop the mining operation if not removed.
15. During August of 1977 while the defendant's dragline was digging at a depth of 50-55 feet, substantial amounts of water rushed into the bottom of the mining pit from below, flooding the pit. The dragline was moved approximately 100 feet north and began digging again. Once again, water began rushing into the bottom of the pit, flooding the pit.
16. The defendant then moved its strip-mining equipment approximately 500 feet to the North and continued its stripping without any interference from excess water.
17. In March of 1976, a substantial length of pit had similarly flooded, causing the mining operation to be shut down for three weeks. Mining could not resume until the pit was dewatered.
18. When the two pits flooded in August of 1977, it was necessary to dewater those pits before the dragline returned to the area on the next cut. If not, the water in those pits would flood the newly dug pit which would be dug along side it. More than three-quarters of a mile of that pit could have flooded. So, during the time the strip to the north was being completed, and the next back to the south was progressing, the defendant drilled two wells east of the North-South road and north of the Centerpoint Road and by pumping from these well sites, was able to lower the water in the pit. In addition to dewatering the flooded pits, the continued pumping from the wells was to eliminate the possibility of again encountering excessive water in the pit.
19. As the defendant was dewatering its pits by pumping water from the pits, it was discovered that the water level of the plaintiffs' strip lake was falling. It was determined that the water flooding defendant's pit was coming from plaintiffs' strip lake by way of old deep mine shafts or otherwise beneath the upper vein of coal. The dewatering of defendant's pits resulted in the emptying of plaintiffs' strip lake because the water flooding defendant's pit was coming from plaintiffs' strip lake.
20. The defendant's mine area is heavily undermined by underground mines. There are two veins of coal in the area. The underground mines were generally in the lower vein coal. The defendant's mining was generally in the upper vein.
21. Before its mining began, the defendant obtained maps of the deep underground mines in their mining area. No maps which they obtained showed any deep mines under the plaintiffs' strip lake. There were deep mines under plaintiffs' strip lake.
22. The water flooding defendant's pit in August of 1977 was coming from plaintiffs' strip lake by way of deep mine shafts and laterals or otherwise. It was and is impossible to determine the path the water was taking from plaintiffs' lake to the deep mine workings below defendant's pits.
23. Before August of 1977 when the plaintiffs' water flooded defendant's pits, the defendant, or its employees, had no knowledge of any connection between plaintiffs' strip lake and defendant's mine. Such a connection could not be seen from the surface of the ground and maps of the area did not disclose the connection.
24. In at least portions of each pit cut by Defendants, the lower vein seam of coal had been mined and there existed the lower deep mine shafts and workings. Defendant placed pumps in these portions of each pit to dewater the lower deep mine shafts.
25. It was necessary, in order to continue with Defendant's mining operation, to remove the water from the lower deep mine shafts and the pumps placed in the wells were used to dewater the lower deep mine shafts so that the water therein would not come into the pits cut above them. It was in this process of dewatering the old lower deep mine shafts that the water was drained from Plaintiffs' lake. At this time, in August of 1977 it was necessary and reasonable to remove this water to continue the Defendant's mining operation. The evidence was uncontroverted that there was no alternative or option available to Defendants if they were to continue with the mining operation.
26. The defendant conducted its mining operation on its own property in a reasonable, necessary and lawful manner for the benefit and improvement of defendant's property.
27. The Defendant's use or removal of water from its property was for the reasonable and beneficial use of the land in connection with its enjoyment of the land and for the ordinary purposes of mining and improving the land."
The judge thereupon concluded that the strip mining company dealt with the water in a manner which was...
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...water and inflicts injury without furthering the enjoyment of the interceptor's land, a court may restrain the use.1 Wiggins v. Brazil Coal & Clay Corp., 452 N.E.2d 958, 964 (emphasis Miller v. Black Rock Springs Imp. Co., 99 Va. 747, 40 S.E. 27 (1901), a case cited by the Supreme Court of ......
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