Dougherty
v. Stepp
Supreme
Court of
18
N.C. 371.
Prosser,
p. 63
Facts:
The defendant
went onto the plaintiff’s land and surveyed it.
The trial court ruled that this was no trespass because the defendant
didn’t mark any trees or cut any bushes.
Issue:
Can there
be trespass if the defendant didn’t apparently damage the land?
Rule:
Every
unauthorized entry to someone else’s land is a trespass.
Analysis: The court says that any
time anyone goes on someone else’s land without their permission, you have to
assume there are at least very minimal damages, like stomping on their grass.
Conclusion:
The judgment
was reversed and the court ordered a new trial.
Notes
and Questions
1. This is
trespass with intent.
2. If the defendant
really believes he’s on his own land, you can’t say there is intent, and
therefore, I don’t believe trespass to land would lie.
3. Issues of
ownership are distinct from issues of trespass. Trespass basically is just about being
there when you’re not supposed to be.
4. This note
seems to suggest that if a someone keeps intruding on another person’s
property, over time the court might recognize it as their property, simply
because they’ve been there so long. The
other idea is that we don’t want people beating each other up over trespass,
and so we’d rather have them come to court, even if the damages are going to be
very small.
5. But it might
affect damages.
6. It looks like
you can have emotional distress damages only in extreme cases.