Noone v. Price

298 S.E.2d 218 (1982)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In 1960, the Noones (P) bought a house which was located on the side of a mountain. The house had been built in 1928 or 1929 by Union Carbide. In 1964, P began to notice that the wall under their front porch was beginning to give way and that the plaster in their living room was cracking. Price (D) owned the property directly below P. She purchased the property in 1955 and sold it in 1972. Sometime between 1912 and 1919, a retaining wall had been constructed along the back of D's property, about ten feet from P's property line. The wall had begun to fall into disrepair before D bought her house. When P realized that their house was slipping down the hill, they complained to D that the problem was due to the deterioration of D's retaining wall. D took no action to repair the wall. P repaired the damage to their house at their own expense of $6,000. P sued D in 1968 for $50,000 for the damages incurred by D's failure to provide lateral support to the house and the land. P alleged that the wall had been constructed for the purpose of supporting D's land and that the disrepair of the wall had caused the damage to their house. D denied the wall on her property provided support to the slope or that the condition of the wall caused the slipping and damages to P’s property. D asserted that P was negligent for failing to take reasonable precautions to protect their property and were thus estopped from suing because the wall on D’s property was erected by her predecessor in title and P’s had purchased their property with knowledge of the wall’s deteriorating conditions. D filed a motion for summary judgment, which the lower court granted in part and denied in part. The lower court concluded that P had no right to recover from D for the damage to their house, but left open the question of whether they could recover for damage to the land.