Gruner

Plaintiff-respondent Gruner brought this action against defendant-appellant Barber for damages for trespass. The court granted plaintiff $650 compensatory damages and $1,500 punitive damages. Plaintiff owned real property located on both sides of a 40-foot public road in San Diego County. Early in 1960, the defendant constructed a sewer line along this road past plaintiff’s property, under contract with the county. This job took about two months. Plaintiff testified that during this period of time defendant’s' workmen tore down or damaged his fence daily and allowed his horse to escape on several occasions; that defendant’s employees took certain timbers valued at $50 and used them in their work; that they also took 100 cubic yards of dirt from plaintiff's property and this dirt was valued at $100. Plaintiff estimated that he and his family did $500 worth of work and labor repairing the fence and restoring it; that during the period of construction, plaintiff, his wife and some of his neighbors objected to the conduct of defendant’s workmen but were never able to deter their activities. The court found that the acts were done with malice and with a willful and wanton disregard of…