Yeanos v. Skelly Oil Co.
| Decision Date | 17 December 1935 |
| Docket Number | 43031. |
| Citation | 263 N.W. 834,220 Iowa 1317 |
| Parties | YEANOS v. SKELLY OIL CO. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Cass County; J. J. Mantz, Judge.
Action in equity to enjoin an alleged nuisance. From decree dismissing plaintiff's petition and rendering judgment against the plaintiff for costs, plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed.
G. C Dalton, of Atlantic, for appellant.
Swan Martin & Martin, of Atlantic, for appellee.
Chestnut street runs north and south and is the principal business street in the city of Atlantic, Iowa. Plaintiff-appellant is the owner of lots 8, 9, and 10 in block 33, and the defendant-appellee, Skelly Oil Company, is the owner of lots 11 and 12 in block 33. Upon lot 10 is located a brick building which has been used for some years as a moving picture theater. The theater building is rented and operated by tenants of the appellant.
Under a permit from the city council of Atlantic, Iowa, Skelly Oil Company installed a superservice station on lots 11 and 12 this being the property immediately south of appellant's moving picture theater. The service station and theater buildings face the east; the service station being located upon the southeast corner of block 33. Prior to the erection of the service station, there was an old three-story brick building situated upon lots 11 and 12. The entrance to the service station is from Sixth street, which runs east and west along the south side of the service station lots. There is a solid brick wall between the service station and the theater building. The front part of the service station building is occupied and used as a lunchroom. This room is leased to third parties and has no connection with the service station. There is no entrance or driveway from Chestnut street into the Skelly property. The only driveway is from Sixth street. The Skelly building does not extend to the south line of the lots, but there is a low curb or cement wall located on the line between the sidewalk and lot line, running from the southeast corner of the lunchroom directly south, which prevents entrance by vehicles to the oil station from Chestnut street. The lunchroom is about 15 or 18 feet in width east and west. There is an entrance to the lunchroom from the east and also one from the south.
Immediately back and west of the lunch-room is a room used for tire and battery service, and immediately west of this is an office room in which is located gentlemen's and ladies' restrooms. These rooms are all inclosed, and there is a canopy extending south from the office building out over the six pumps, and underneath this canopy and around the pumps and extending out and connecting with the street pavement on Sixth street the ground is covered with cement paving, making a broad smooth entrance to the station. Back and west of the office and restrooms is a compartment containing grease racks where cars are lubricated and greased. Beyond this, to the west, are rooms in which wash racks are located. Immediately across Sixth street to the south is an open block or park. The place where cars are refueled is about the center of the lots east and west. The storage tanks are underground, and the entire structure is installed in accordance with the most approved plans and methods, and in accordance with the specifications of the city ordinance, and is being operated according to the most approved standards with the latest and best equipment in use to reduce hazards.
There are no serious legal questions involved; the question to be determined being whether the evidence establishes the alleged nuisance. Summarized, the elements entering into the alleged nuisance as claimed by appellant consist of the storing of large quantities of gasoline and distillate; the odors from exhausts of motor vehicles and from gasoline and oil used in operating the filling station; the noise of servicing cars and trucks, and the noise of motor vehicles stopping, starting, and leaving the filling station; vibration from machines used and from cars and trucks; congestion of traffic, retarding ingress and egress to the plaintiff's picture show building; the claim being that the noise and vibrations could be heard and the odors detected by the patrons of the picture show. There is also the further claim that the ordinance under which defendant obtained its permit, being Ordinance 83, is illegal and unconstitutional as granting arbitrary power to the city council to allow a filling station on one man's property and disallow it to another, without any definite rule by which the city council is to be governed, and therefore in contravention of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and article 1, § 6 of the Constitution of Iowa.
We have carefully read the entire record, and are satisfied the result reached by the trial court is correct. The evidence falls far short of showing the conditions contended for by the appellant. The great weight and preponderance of the evidence is in favor of the...
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