Background: In 2001, David and Joan Gallant bought a piece of property in Indian Mountain (Moncton area) from Lee and Shirley Murray. The property is located next-door to the Murrays themselves. The neighbors got along well until November, 2013.
Details: November, 2013 is when the Murrays reportedly dumped an enormous mountain of cow manure—so large, in fact, that at one point it could be spotted by Google Earth—directly beside (and partially on) the Gallants’ property, ending the friendly relationship between the neighbors. The Gallants claim to have asked, on multiple occasions, to have the Murrays remove the heavily odorous heap, only to have their requests ignored for nearly a year and to be met with additional passive-aggressive acts; for example, the couple also used a snow blower to blow snow and rocks onto the Gallants’ property on occasion and let their cattle loose to trample the Gallants’ lawn.
Outcome: In response to the unwelcomed gestures, the Gallants filed a lawsuit against the Murrays, claiming damages for having committed nuisance, trespass, and harassment. On January 19, 2017, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice, George Rideout, ruled in the Gallants’ favor, awarding $15,000 in damages, as well as ordering the Murrays to keep their animals off the Gallants’ property, to refrain from blowing snow, rocks, manure or anything else into their neighbors’ yard, and to keep manure piles 300 meters away from the Gallants’ home. The judge stated, “In my opinion, based on the evidence before the court, the manure was placed where it was for only one purpose, to make Mr. and Mrs. Gallant’s lives miserable.”
Now: The Murrays, unhappy with the verdict, have “vowed to appeal” the decision, but there is no sign of an official appeal to date.
Curious about the Case? See for yourself:
- Here is a link to the full written decision for this case
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/indian-mountain-manure-feud-1.3961468
- https://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/n-b-couple-used-giant-manure-heap-to-harass-neighbours-judge-rules
- https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/02/02/manure-pile-new-brunswick_n_14575544.html