Bell v. City of Rochester

—This is an application for an injunction order to restrain the city of Rochester from constructing an overflow outlet sewer in connection with the Bast Side trunk sewer, and from permitting any of the contents of the trunk sewer from being conducted through the overflow into Thomas creek.

The motion is based upon affidavits and the final judgment obtained in this action in 1889, granting a perpetual injunction restraining the city of Rochester from permitting sewage to be discharged from Monroe avenue or Nichols park sewers into Thomas creek, or into any of the creeks, streams or waters flowing through the town of Brighton, upon the ground that the same is a nuisance and detrimental to the public health.

Tlie court directed that the issuing of the injunction should be staid for a reasonable time, to enable the city to devise some means to dispose of the sewage.

It appears, from the affidavits read upon this motion, that the city is endeavoring, in good faith, to comply with the order of the court: that it has caused to be constructed, at great expense, what

It is claimed by the city officials having charge of the construction of the trunk sewer, in order to provide an outlet for the water that will be liable to accumulate in said sewer during unusual rainfalls and freshets, and to prevent it from setting back into the lateral sewers and flooding the cellars in the eastern part of the city, that it is necessary to construct several storm overflows along the line of the trunk sewer, and that the overflow in question is to be arched over with solid masonry, commencing at a point in the trunk sewer near the junction of Culver street and University avenue, and extending to Thomas creek in the town of Brighton.

Mr. Kuichling, the chief engineer of the water-works department, says that the present capacity of the trunk sewer at University avenue is about thirteen times greater than the present maximum volume of sewage, and that the storm overflows will be necessary only in case of unusual rainfalls and freshets, and that the water that will flow at such times out of the trunk sewer into the overflows will not contain any appreciable amount of sewage. So that the quantity of sewage, if any, that may eventu-" ally escape through the overflows into Thomas creek, is speculative and uncertain. But, independent of the question as to the quarn tity of sewage that may eventually escape through the overflows, this court, upon this application, has no power to grant an additional or supplemental injunction.

A court of equity derives its authority to grant an injunction order from the Code of Civil Procedure, and there is no authority in the Code authorizing the granting of an injunction upon affidavits, after the final judgment has been obtained.

It was held, in Jackson et al. v. Bunnell et al., 113 N. Y. 219 ; 22 St. Rep. 975 , that, under the laws of this state, there is no authority for granting an injunction after final judgment. The restraint, if any, must be contained in the final judgment, or it cannot be granted at all. Gardner v. Gardner, 87 N. Y. 18 ; Code of Civil Procedure, § 602; High on Injunctions, § 1591.

The final judgment obtained in this action does not restrain the city from building sewers or storm overflows. This court, therefore, has no power, upon this motion, to grant a supplemental injunction to restrain 'the city from constructing the overflow in question. The relief asked for upon that point could only be granted, if at all, in an action brought for that purpose. I am of the opinion, however, that such an action could not be maintained, if it were brought. No claim is made by the plaintiff that the city, in constructing the overflows, is not acting legally, and within the scope and authority delegated to it by the charter and special act of the legislature. This court, therefore, would have no more right to restrain the city from building such overflows or subways

It is claimed by the defendant that all large cities, in constructing trunk sewers, usually build overflows, and that the east side trunk sewer cannot be constructed properly without them ; that they are absolutely essential to relieve it from the volume and pressure of water that may accumulate in times of freshets, and to prevent the water at such times from setting back into the lateral sewers, and thereby endangering the health and property of the people residing in the eastern part of the city.

If the defendant’s contentioh is well founded, it is the duty of the city to provide some plan for relieving the trunk sewer at such times from the overflow water, and, in performing this duty, the municipality must be permitted to exercise its discretion as to the best mode of accomplishing it. The courts have no legal right to say that the overflows or subways shall be dispensed with, or how or where they shall be constructed. While the city must obey the order of the court granted in this action, and remove the sewage nuisance as soon as practicable, yet the mode of accomplishing it cannot be controlled by the courts. That must be left to the discretion of the municipality. Where a city, by its charter, is vested with certain discretionary powers as to the mode of making public improvements, the principle is well settled that such discretion cannot be interfered with by injunction, at least, not so long as it is acting within the scope and authority vested in it by the legislature.

Judge Dillon, in his work on Municipal Corporations, vol. 1, § 95, says : That where a municipal corporation, by its charter, is empowered to make public improvements, its determination, whether wise or unwise, cannot be judicially revised or corrected by the courts. It is made the duty of the city to remove, as far as it is able, every nuisance which may endanger health, but, he says, “ the courts, unless the power be transcended, cannot ordinarily interfere to control the manner in which it shall be done.”

In Lynch v. The Mayor, 76 N. Y. 60 , the court held that a city, in constructing sewers, may exercise its discretion, subject to no review or question in any court, whether at any particular place it will build a sewer, and what waters it will conduct into an existing sewer, and what drains it will connect therewith.

Judge Rapallo, in Hines v. The City of Lockport, 50 N. Y. 236 , says: “ Where the po wer is conferred upon public officers or municipal corporations to make improvements, such as streets, sewers, etc., and keep them in repair, the duty to make them is quasi judicial, or discretionary, involving a determination as to their necessity, requisite capacity, location, etc., and for a failure to exercise the power, or an erroneous estimate of the public needs, no civil action can be maintained.”

The above remarks are directly in point and applicable to this case. The city must be permitted to adopt its own plans for

The motion, therefore, must be denied.