Interoffice Memorandum Privileged Attorney Work Product
To: Professor From: Date: November 3, 2009 Re: Alicia Carmody’s claim against her Neighbor, Mr. John Ellis, for a private nuisance claim. QUESTION PRESENTED Under Vermont Common Law does Mr. John Ellis’ recently created chicken coop in a residential neighborhood constitutes a private nuisance when Mr. Ellis’ rooster and the hens generate odors and noises that could be considered unreasonable and substantial interferences with Ms. Alicia Carmody’s enjoyment of her yard? BRIEF ANSWER Probably yes. Mr. John Ellis lives in a residential neighborhood where the houses are big and are on small lots very close to each other. From the facts presented against Mr. Ellis,…show more content… The opposing counsel is most likely going to bring up that, Mr. Ellis is the owner of his land and he can use the lots to what he determines it to be the best use. As in Coty, when the defendants were not able to get the necessary permit to build the amount of units that they wanted for their motel the defendants determined that they best use for the land could be a farm and since they already operated another 2 farms this seemed like the logical thing to do. Id. Mr. Ellis clearly knows what he was doing when he started to raise the chicken because Mr. Ellis built the coops necessary for the chicken’s protection as well as a fence enclosing the yard so that Mr. Ellis could best protect the animals, so Mr. Ellis was just using the land to the best use that he thought fit for him, just like in Coty. Id. Also, in Coty, “the court found that the conditions were complained of were created intentionally,” in the case against Mr. Ellis, he did not build the chicken coops with the intention of creating an offensive, inconvenience and annoyance to his neighbors. Id. Mr. Ellis created the chicken coop for his private and personal use; there is nothing in the fact that tells us otherwise. B. Mr. Ellis’ recently constructed chicken coops are an unreasonable interference with the enjoyment of an individual’s enjoyment of an individual’s property. For a nuisance to be unreasonable, it means
