Law, Business, and Society 9th Edition by Tony McAdams

Exercise 3

Rattigan and Horvitz owned a house and prime ocean front lot in Beverley Farms, Massachusetts. The house was rented during the summer months. Wile owned an adjacent undeveloped ocean front lot. The only land access to Wile's lot was through the Rattigan/Horvitz lot. Rattigan and Horvitz successfully challenged Wile's application for a building permit and thereafter Wile began a series of retaliatory acts, including putting several portable toilets o his lot immediately adjacent to the Horvitz swimming pool, landing his helicopter on his vacant lot, placing debris such as a rusted crane bucket, broken cement, and the bed of a pickup truck on his property, and holding parties (not attended by Wile) for 150-200 guests from the local youth shelter. Some of these tactics by Wile were sporadic rather than persistent. Were Rattigan and Horvitz the victims of a nuisance Explain. See Rattigan v. Wile, 841 N.E.2d 680 (Mass. S. Judicial Ct. 2006).