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State ex Rel. Knight v. City of Miami

Supreme Court of Florida, Division A
Jul 24, 1951
53 So. 2d 636 (Fla. 1951)

Opinion

July 24, 1951.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Stanley Milledge, J.

Rollo E. Karkeet, Miami, for appellants.

J.W. Watson, Jr., Miami, for appellee.


In 1923 the City of Miami located its garbage disposal plant far beyond the City limits where it has since been operated though the City has grown to and beyond it. Appellants instituted this suit by bill of complaint as authorized by Sections 386.12 and 823.05, F.S.A., to have said garbage disposal plant declared a nuisance and its further use prohibited on the ground that it is injurious to health, depreciates the value of their property and hinders them in the free use of it. A motion to dismiss was granted after complainants declined to amend further. This appeal was prosecuted.

It appears that the City's garbage disposal plant had been in continuous use at its present location for more than 28 years, that the City has expanded and grown far beyond its location and that while it was in the beginning a small plant, it has been enlarged so that it now accommodates more than 400,000 people, that complainants acquired their property knowing the location of the garbage plant, that they have an adequate remedy at law, that they have shown no peculiar damage to their land or their health or the health of the City.

Under such a state of facts, the cases generally hold that a garbage disposal plant is not a nuisance per se and that a court of equity should not grant relief against its operation. City of Lakeland v. Douglass, 143 Fla. 771, 197 So. 467; Chardkoff Junk Co. v. City of Tampa, 102 Fla. 501, 135 So. 457; City of Lakeland v. State ex rel. Harris et al., 143 Fla. 761, 197 So. 470; Gibson et al. v. City of Tampa, 114 Fla. 619, 154 So. 842; State of Missouri v. State of Ill., 200 U.S. 496, 26 S.Ct. 268, 50 L.Ed. 572; Town of Speedway v. Dugan, Ind.Sup., 94 N.E.2d 542.

We think the bill of complaint fails to state a cause of action so the decree appealed from is affirmed on authority of the cases just cited.

Affirmed.

SEBRING, C.J., and THOMAS and HOBSON, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

State ex Rel. Knight v. City of Miami

Supreme Court of Florida, Division A
Jul 24, 1951
53 So. 2d 636 (Fla. 1951)
Case details for

State ex Rel. Knight v. City of Miami

Case Details

Full title:STATE EX REL. KNIGHT ET AL. v. CITY OF MIAMI

Court:Supreme Court of Florida, Division A

Date published: Jul 24, 1951

Citations

53 So. 2d 636 (Fla. 1951)

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