Trespass-Cases n stuff

Trespass-Cases n stuff

1. Jacque v. Steenberg Homes (1997)-Synopsis of Rule of Law.  When nominal damages are awarded for an intentional trespass to land punitive damages may also be awarded.

   • Facts. Plaintiffs Lois and Harvey Jacques, an elderly couple, are very sensitive about people being on their land. The Jacque’s neighbors purchased a mobile home from the defendant SteenBerg Homes. SteenBerg tried on several occasions to get permission from the Jacques to cross their land because this was the easiest way to deliver the mobile home and they refused. On the day of delivery SteenBerg employees made an attempt to cross the land and were stopped by the Jacques. The SteenBerg assistant manager attempting bargaining for the right to cross and they again refused. The assistant manager subsequently told his employees “I don’t give a—— what Mr. Jacque said just get the home in there any way you can.” The employees followed that order and delivered the home across the Jacque’s property. Issue. Whether punitive damages may be awarded in an intentional trespass case when the Plaintiff are only entitled to nominal damages because there is no actual harm to their property.  
   • Held. Yes. Punitive damages are appropriate in intentional trespass cases even if there are no actual damages. The purpose of the punitive damage in this case is deterrence. Landowners have an interest in protecting his or her land from trespass and the United States Supreme Court has held that the right to exclude others from his or her land is one of the most essential […] property rights. If landowners are only allowed compensation for trespass actions that have compensatory damages it makes that right a hollow one.  It does not take actual harm to a person’s property for actual harm to occur when someone intentional trespasses upon that land. An award will not be considered excessive in violation of the Due Process clause when the acts are egregious. Here, SteenBerg was unequivocally told no, and still continued on the land. That disregard for the Jacque’s rights amounts to that egregious conduct.  

2. State v. shack (1971)-Synopsis of Rule of Law. Trespass does not include a situation where representatives of recognized charitable groups enter private land in order to provide government aid to those workers who need it.

   • Facts. One defendant is a field worker for a nonprofit corporation that provided for the health services of migrant farm workers. Another defendant is an attorney for a nonprofit corporation that provides legal advice and representation for these workers. The two defendants went to the farm of the plaintiff, who confronted them at the entrance. The plaintiff offered to bring both men to his office, but the defendants wanted to see the men in their living quarters outside the supervision of the plaintiff. The plaintiff summoned a state trooper, and the defendants were charged with trespass.  
   • Issue. Does trespass on real property include the right to bar access to governmental services available to migrant workers? Held. No. Judgment reversed. Title to real property does not include control over the destiny of people the owner permits to come onto his premises. Their well-being is the paramount concern of the law. In fact, the government created the two nonprofit corporations that the defendants belong to in order to be of service to migrant farm workers. Migrant farm workers are unaware of their rights and the opportunities available to them, and so can only be reached by the effort of others. A person’s right to his real property is not absolute. Private or public necessity may justify entering onto his land. There is no need for a farmer to deny his worker the change to receive aid from government services or charity groups, so representatives from those groups may enter the land and see the worker in his living place. Though an employer of migrant farm workers may reasonably require the visitors of his employees to identify themselves, the employer may not deny the worker his privacy or interfere with his opportunity to live with dignity and to enjoy associations customary among our citizens.  

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