Penfold v. Larkin

Headnote

Penfold v. Larkin, 167 App. Div. 952 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, entered March 8, 1915, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict. The complaint alleged that the plaintiffs owned certain real and personal property in Lockport, N. Y., in the years 1910 and 1911, in close proximity to the Barge canal enlargement; that the defendants were contractors engaged in construction work on such enlargement under a contract with the state of New York and, among other work, were driving an underground hydraulic tunnel through the rock under a portion of the brick stores on the premises of the plaintiffs, the right to drive which tunnel had been duly appropriated by the state; that in driving such tunnel the defendants negligently and carelessly used unnecessarily excessive amounts of blasting explosives in removing the rock directly under and each side of the plaintiffs’ buildings, and thereby injured the buildings and contents; that defendants’ other construction work consisted of. demolishing the old canal locks and constructing new ones, which work was above the surface, and that by their blasting operations in that work they threw rocks, stones, earth and debris on to plaintiffs’ premises, breaking windows, puncturing roofs, injuring interior decorations, stock in trade, etc. The answer denied the negligent operations and the throwing of the rocks and the damages flowing therefrom.