Fenton v. Quaboag Country Club
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
233 N.E.2d 216 (1968)
The Fentons (plaintiffs), who did not play golf, bought a house adjoining the Quaboag Country Club's (defendant) course. Golfers hit hundreds of errant balls onto their property, damaging the house, striking their dog, and generally disrupting their enjoyment of the home. A master found the balls constituted both nuisance and trespass, awarded damages for broken windows, diminished property value, and nuisance compensation, and the trial court enjoined Quaboag from operating the course in a way that continued sending balls onto the property. Quaboag appealed.
Whether a trespass that materially interferes with a landowner's enjoyment of the property entitles the landowner to an abatement, judged from the perspective of an ordinary reasonable person rather than someone familiar with the activity causing the interference.