Man Sues Neighbor Over Smell Of Marijuana Plants

[matcom]

<snip>

A Redwood Valley man is telling his marijuana-growing neighbors to put their money where his nose is.

James Kerr decided the smell of James and Nancy Matthews's pot plants was too much, so on Friday, Kerr filed a civil suit in Mendocino County Superior Court.

"People can do something about the stench of marijuana gardens in their neighborhood," Kerr said. "It doesn't matter whether growing medical marijuana is legal or not. All you have to do is convince a judge or jury that the smell is offensive and interferes with your enjoyment of life or property, and you can be awarded monetary damages."

Kerr hopes to convince a judge or jury he lost the use of his property and suffered general damage because of the unpleasant smells. He filed an unlimited civil suit, which means he is seeking more than $25,000.

The suit alleges the Matthewses are creating a nuisance and are liable for it. According to the California Civil Code, a nuisance results from "anything which is injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property."

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/Stories/0,1413,91%257E3089%257E2414926,00.html

[arwalden]

1. The plants THEMSELVES smell bad? Or was an offensive smelling...

fertilizer being used?

[benburch]

2. Maturing marijuana has a rank odor.

Often this is how cops find indoor growers.

[arwalden]

4. Ah... Thanks.

-- Allen

[Beetwasher]

8. Rank? Hardly...

The smell of pot plants is actually quite refreshing and pleasant...It's unique and can be quite strong, but I'd hardly consider it rank.

[tridim]

11. Completely disagree

It certainly has an odor, but I wouldn't call it "rank". Nothing smells better than a selectively bred, maturing marijuana plant. They smell like extremely sweet fruit, almost candy like.

It's all subjective.. Maybe he's just growing crappy plants?

[demnan]

3. Kill joys

I wish my neighbors grew marijuana. With the 120 pound dog and the cigarette butts littering up the common areas (Not to mention the big ding in my car door) I could at least steel their stuff, get high and tune them out.

[mrboba1]

5. Some people don't like the smell of some flowers...

does that mean they can sue for that, too?
:eyes:

on edit: and some people from other countries don't use deodorant or shower very often - can you sue for that????

[Demobrat]

6. Maybe if you could smell it two lots over.

I'm a pot smoker and love the scent, but even I've choked on the smell of large quantities. The closest thing I can compare it to is mulch.

[TX-RAT]

7. What they add to soil could be the problem.

Cow manure
fish emulsion.

[miss_kitty]

9. here in Seattle, coffee roasters have been fined for that smell

by which ever agency is in charge of that...i drink the strongest coffee i can find, but when i worked in a sealed building, the stench of the roasting coffee being vented by a roaster nearby was sucked into the HVAC plant on my building and used to make a lot of us ill. The roaster was warned, then fined...I have the same problem with brewery stench, too.

but pot? man-I'd just sue them for not sharing!

[Xithras]

10. Umm, good!

Californias public nuisance laws are there for a reason, and people engaging in any kind of agricultural activity in a residential neighborhood...whether it's growing pot or raising pigs...have a responsibility to make sure that their activities aren't impacting their neighbors. If these people can't use their backyards because of the smell (and let's face it, marijuana stinks when it matures), they SHOULD sue.

Ultimatly, pot growers need to abide by the same legal restrictions and courtesty's as everyone else when trying to use their backyard as a farm. If the growers don't want to deal with these laws, they should take their operations into agricultural areas where nuisance laws don't apply and these types of odors are more acceptable.

Personally I'm not a fan of ANY backyard gardening. I had a run-in with a neighbor years back over her backyard garden that ended up in a big nasty mess before a judge that ended up costing her about a grand (paid to me) and her garden. Modern backyards simply aren't big enough to support gardens full of corn, tomato bushes, or pot without impacting the surrounding homes.