08-10-11 GARY SMITH, ET AL. VS. JERSEY CENTRAL POWER & LIGHT COMPANY, ET AL.
A-2801-08T2
The determination whether an electric utility's intermittent interference with a property owner's use of his property is so substantial that a taking has occurred depends on all the circumstances of that interference, which requires development of a full record and fact finding. Therefore, a jury's finding that the utility's distribution of electricity to a property owner's home, which caused stray current that interfered with the use of his property, constituted a nuisance,
1:20-3(h) provides that in cases where a grievanceis insufficient to support a judgment on an inverse condemnation claim.
A showing of negligence is not an essential element of the tort of nuisance. Therefore, an electric utility may be found liable on the basis of nuisance to a property owner for interfering with the property owner's use of his property due to stray current even though the utility exercised due care in its efforts to control the stray current.
