Charles F. Harper Co. v. DeWitt Mortgage & Realty Co.

Plaintiff is a corporation engaged in the subdivision and sale of tracts of land in Los Angeles County. In 1924 it laid out and subdivided a tract of hillside land north of Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, known as Tract 6472, in the official records of Los Angeles County. In the process of subdividing the tract into lots for residential purposes, certain excavations were made and terraces constructed over the entire tract, and work of this nature was done on lots 8 and 9 of said tract, which were contiguous and separated by a terrace, the north line of lot 8 being coterminous with the south line of lot 9.

Early in January, 1925, defendants became the owners of lot 8 and shortly thereafter placed a steam shovel on said lot for the purpose of lowering the level of the lot so that it could be used with other lots owned by defendants in the same tract. The steam-shovel made an excavation of lot 8 to the depth of twenty feet or more below the level of the terrace between lots 8 and 9, the work being done during the rainy season and continuing for a period of three or four weeks. Within a few days after the withdrawal of the shovel, a large portion of the soil, composing lot 9, caved…