Sprague v. Kanes Falls Electric Company

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, entered November 21, 1913, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a decision of the court at a Trial Term without a jury in an action to restrain the defendant from raising and lowering, by means of a dam, the waters of G-len lake. The complaint alleges that the plaintiff owns a cottage lot and dock on the shore of G-len lake; that the defendant’s predecessor in title erected a dam across the stream which forms the outlet of G-len lake, and by means thereof the defendant at times raises the level of the waters in Glen lake above the natural level, thereby flooding the plaintiff’s property; that the channel of the outlet has been excavated and thus, by opening the dam, the lake water is drawn below- the natural level; that this raising and lowering of the water is wrongful and a nuisance.