Also known as: public nuisance · public nuisances
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.
Pioneer Energy operates a chemical plant that releases fumes several times each week. The fumes drift across a nearby public park and force families to leave the grounds during peak hours. Residents including Pamela Phillips cancel community events because the odors cause nausea and breathing difficulty.
The City of Detroit begins clearing a residential block for a new factory under an eminent-domain plan. Perry Pratt and other residents lose direct routes to a public market and school. The resulting detours and dust clouds prevent ordinary public travel and recreation for months.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
American Electric Power operates coal plants that emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The emissions contribute to rising temperatures that degrade a state-owned lake used by the public for fishing and boating. Priscilla Parks and other citizens can no longer rely on the lake for recreation during summer months.
Several adult theaters open within a few blocks of one another in a downtown zone. The resulting traffic and loitering block sidewalks and create safety concerns for pedestrians using the public right-of-way. Paige Porter, a local shop owner, loses customers who avoid the area because of the persistent crowds.
Preston Mill Company conducts periodic blasting operations near a state highway. The explosions send debris and vibrations onto the roadway and cause drivers to swerve or stop. Paul Peterson, a delivery driver, suffers repeated delays and near-accidents while using the public road for work.
A state law caps working hours in commercial bakeries to protect employee health. Pablo Perez, a bakery owner, continues long shifts that release excess heat and flour dust into the surrounding neighborhood. The resulting air quality decline affects pedestrians and nearby residents who use the public sidewalks daily.
Courts examine whether the conduct produces a significant interference with public health, safety, peace, comfort, or convenience. They also consider whether the conduct violates a statute or regulation and whether it is continuing or produces permanent effects that the actor knows will affect the public right. Regulatory permits and economic benefits are weighed but do not automatically prevent a finding of unreasonableness.
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A private plaintiff must show harm of a kind different in kind from that suffered by the general public. Economic loss unique to the plaintiff's business, such as near-total loss of customers on the sole access road to a public area, satisfies the special-harm requirement. Governmental enforcement of regulations does not bar the private damages action.
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Regulatory authorization and zoning compatibility are relevant factors but do not immunize conduct when the interference with public rights remains severe and unmitigated. Prolonged disruption of public spaces without effective mitigation can still establish unreasonableness despite permits and governmental inaction.
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Violation of a regulation requiring specific waste-management practices supplies independent evidence that the interference is unreasonable. The regulatory breach weighs against the defendant when odors and flies from noncompliant manure application repeatedly affect public recreational areas.
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…affairs the public interest does not warrant much of this kind of interference. A source of damage to such a house is not a public nuisance even if similar damage is inflicted on others in different places. The damage is not common or public. Wesson v. Washburn Iron Co. , 13 Allen, 95, 103. The extent of the public interest is…