LORD ADVOCATE v The REO STAKIS ORGANISATION Ltd
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 12 February 1980 |
| Date | 12 February 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 16. |
| Court | Court of Session (Outer House) |
OUTER HOUSE.
Lord Jauncey.
NuisanceLoss of supportBuilding operationsStructural damage to neighbouring property due to soil movement caused by piling operations on adjoining landWhether withdrawal of support constituted nuisanceWhether building operations constituted nuisance without negligenceWhether nuisance by building operations limited to acts involving escape from land on which they were carried out.
The Secretary of State for the Environment, the owner of a government building, sued the owners of a neighbouring hotel property and their piling contractors for damages on the ground of nuisance. As a result of soil movement due to piling operations carried out preparatory to the erection of the hotel, structural cracks appeared in the government building.
At procedure roll the owners of the hotel contended that the claim of nuisance was irrelevant because (1) an act of withdrawing a neighbour's support was not a nuisance; (2) building operations per secould not constitute a nuisance; and (3) if building operations could constitute nuisance, they could only be operations involving escape from the land on which they were carried on.
Held (1) that an act involving withdrawal of a neighbour's support could amount to nuisance in the law of Scotland. Dictaof Lord President Cooper in Watt v. JamiesonSC1954 S.C. 56 at 57 applied; Strathaven Co-operative Society v. Lanarkshire County Council, 25th February 1976, unreported,followed. (2) That liability in nuisance for the building operations could arise without negligence. (3) That nuisance by building operations was not restricted to operations involving escape from the land on which they were carried on. Dicta of Lord President Cooper in Watt v. Jamieson, (supra),applied.
The Rt. Hon. Ronald King Murray, Q.C., M.P., the Lord Advocate, representing the Secretary of State for the Environment, raised an action of reparation...
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LORD ADVOCATE v The REO STAKIS ORGANISATION Ltd
...sustain the fourth plea-in-law for the first defenders and allowed parties a proof before answer. Lord Jauncey's opinion is reported at 1980 S.C. 203. The first defenders reclaimed and the reclaiming motion was heard before the First Division on llth, 12th and 17th December The arguments pr......