Day on Torts
Summary judgment for a nuisance claim was affirmed where the plaintiffs failed to provide any evidence beyond their own affirmations that a nuisance existed.
In Heatley v. Estate of Gaither, No. M2024-01097-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 29, 2025), the plaintiffs and the defendants lived on two plots of land that were joined as one property until around 1990. While the land was owned by one party, a septic tank was installed on the plaintiffs’ side that serviced the property the defendants eventually owned.
In 2013, the plaintiffs discovered the septic tank, and the defendants had the septic line “permanently severed and sealed under the supervision of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation” in 2014. In early 2014, the plaintiffs filed their first lawsuit related to the septic tank, alleging claims for negligence and trespass. The defendants were granted summary judgment on the nuisance claims in that matter, and the remaining claim was eventually nonsuited in 2022.