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Interference with Easement as Nuisance

A private nuisance is a tort of interference with a person’s enjoyment and use of his land.

In Prah v. Maretti,[i] it was held that, a landowner does not have an absolute or unlimited right to use the land in a way which injures the rights of others.  A landowner may not unreasonably use their rights and injure the use or enjoyment of rights of others.  When a landowner uses his/her property unreasonably and interferes with another’s enjoyment of their property, it is a private nuisance.  And the obstruction of sunlight is a tort of nuisance.  In, Prah, Plaintiff’s residence had a solar system that included collectors to supply energy for heat and hot water.  Defendant’s construction on the adjacent plot interfere the unrestricted use of the sun and its solar power by plaintiff.  The court found that plaintiff had stated a common law private nuisance claim and, nuisance applies to conflicts between private landowners over access to sunlight.  Thus if the sunlight which is uninterruptedly enjoyed by a landowner is obstructed by an adjoining land owner, there is tort of nuisance.  However if there is any easement, express or implied, there is no nuisance.

However, in Sher v. Leiderman,[ii] it was held that landowners are not liable for blockage of sunlight since the blockage of sunlight is not a tort.  In Sher, plaintiff landowners sued defendant landowners for private nuisance claiming that their property was deprived of sunlight because of defendants’ high trees.  The court held defendant landowners not liable and observed, “blockage of light to a neighbor’s property, except in cases where malice is the overriding motive, does not constitute actionable nuisance, regardless of the impact on the injured party’s property or person.”

In, Whitmore v. Brown,[iii] the court held that a useful building or other structure is not a nuisance merely for the reason that it may injure adjoining property by cutting off the view from it.

[i] Prah v. Maretti, 108 Wis. 2d 223 (Wis. 1982)

[ii] Sher v. Leiderman, 181 Cal. App. 3d 867 (Cal. App. 6th Dist. 1986)

[iii] Whitmore v. Brown, 102 Me. 47 (Me. 1906)


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