Property II outline
Private Nuisance
The function of private nuisance liability: protect against unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of land
Elements of a private nuisance cause of action
Substantial harm to a private property interest in land
That was caused by
The defendant’s unintentional or intentional liability-forming conduct
Intent only requires that the defendant engage in intentional conduct with reasonable foreseeability that the harm would occur
An interference with the plaintiff’s use and enjoyment of land may be unreasonable for purposes of intentional private nuisance liability under any one of the following tests (depending on jurisdiction)
Courts are not uniform in applying the reasonableness test
Restatement Balancing Test – Gravity vs. Utility test of reasonability may be used
Threshold Test – may also apply as long as the harm suffered by the plaintiff crosses some threshold level that the plaintiff should have to bear without legal recourse, as long as the interference crosses that threshold the social value doesn’t matter (most courts adhere to the threshold test)
Financial burden test says that if the intentional invasion is unreasonable if the gravity outweighs the utility OR the harm caused by the conduct is serious AND the financial burden of compensating is possible to bear by the defendant
Two step process
Dispute over a use of water
Plaintiff wants to use the water for drinking
Defendant wants to use the water for waste disposal
The court decides for the plaintiff
Issues an injunction preventing the defendant form using the water source
Allows the defendant to continue to use the water but allows the plaintiff to claim com
lternatives
Parties are unlikely to solve the problem by paying out, rather the parties are likely to solve the problem individually
Standards
Threshold test
Estancias Dallas Corp. v. Schultz
It doesn’t matter what utility would measure against the harm, the plaintiff was entitled to recovery as soon as the nuisance breached a certain level
Balancing of the Equities Test
Estancias Dallas Corp. v. Schultz
Evidence of benefit to the public that is created as a necessity of the nuisance
Court considers the injury to the defendant and the public if an injunction is granted versus injury to the plaintiff
If P’s injury is slight in comparison to the injury to D and
