BOVE V.

DONNER-HANNA COKE CORP

FACTS:
• P purchased two vacant lots in Buffalo, and two years later built a house. The front of the
building was converted into a grocery store, and plaintiff occupied the rear as a dwelling.
• She rented two apartments on the second floor.
• D operates a large coke oven on the opposite side of the street. The plant runs for 24 hours a
day 365 days/yr.
• The operation has to be continuous, b/c if allowed to cool, the ovens would be ruined.
• As a result of heating, there is a cloud of steam which rises into the air.
• Smoke makes its way to Ps property.
• P says that this results in dirt and soot accumulating in her house, and prevents her opening the
windows on the street side.
• P also claims she suffers severe headaches by breathing the impure air. Says the health of her
and her family has been impaired.
• This condition lessened the rental value of her property, and has made it impossible at times to
rent her apartment.
• P complained of private nuisance, preventing her full enjoyment of her home, and seeks to
recover damages which she asserts she has already sustained. She wants them to stop
operation.
• Coke is used to make iron.

REASONING:
• Residents of industrial centers must endure a certain amount of discomfort which is incident to
life in such a locality.
• The inconvenience must be certain and substantial, and must interfere with the physical comfort
of the ordinary reasonable person.
• Although P built her house before the Coke plant came in, the region was never fitted for a
residential district; it is particularly adapted for industrial sites.
• The region contains railroads, freight tracks, and other industrial plants.
• The property is in an industrial zone.
• Public policy reasons: such things are good for advancement of this nation.
HOLDING:
• D's plant is not a nuisance per se
• P should suck it up.

RULES:
• an owner is at liberty to use his property as he sees fit without objection/interference from his
neighbor, provided such use does not violate an ordinance or statute.
• An owner will not be permitted to make an unreasonable use of his premises to the material
annoyance of his neighbor, if the latter's enjoyment of life or property is materially lessened
thereby.

How does the court slip out from granting an injunction to Bove?
• She chose to come there. She knew or should have known that the area would become that
way. What if the area had been zoned residential? Arguably the plant wouldn't have been there.