Van Sandt v. Royster

Bailey, original owner of three adjacent lots, built a house on the easternmost lot connected to the public sewer via pipes running under the other two lots before selling the westernmost lot to Jones (who knew about the sewer and connected his own house to it) and later the center lot to Murphy, whose house eventually passed to Royster (defendant); Jones's lot eventually passed to Van Sandt (plaintiff), whose basement flooded with sewage in 1936, revealing the previously undisclosed and invisible pipe running under his property. Van Sandt sued to stop Royster from discharging sewage across the pipe under his land; the trial court found for Royster, enjoining Van Sandt from interfering with the pipes, and Van Sandt appealed.