Waschak v. Moffat
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
379 Pa. 441, 109 A.2d 310 (1954)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Waschak (plaintiff) owned a home in a residential area of Taylor, Pennsylvania, a city in the heart of the state’s anthracite coal mining region. Moffat (defendant) operated a nearby coal breaker, a coal processing plant that broke coal into various useful sizes. Hydrogen sulfide gas emanating from two of Moffat’s culm banks, banks of fine-grained anthracite coal produced as a waste byproduct in the mining process, caused the white paint on Waschak’s home to turn to a “scorched black.” Waschak brought suit against Moffat for damages, which was limited to the cost of repainting the exterior of the house with white paint. The trial court entered judgment for Waschak, and Moffat appealed. The superior court affirmed and Moffat appealed to the state’s supreme court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stearne, J.)
Dissent (Musmanno, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 788,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
