Maddocks v. Giles

Sewall and Janice Maddocks (plaintiffs), owners of land adjacent to Elbridge Giles's (defendant's) gravel pit, sued after an underground spring beneath their property ran dry, alleging Giles's gravel-pit excavation caused it; a jury found for Giles, and the Maddockses appealed, urging Maine to abandon the absolute-dominion rule governing percolating groundwater in favor of the reasonable-use doctrine most other jurisdictions had adopted.