[WSBARP] Hot Air Balloon Problems

Tue Sep 3 10:48:29 PDT 2024

Well, this is a unique question. Not sure you have much to swing at them at all. My first thought went to the usque ad coelom common law doctrine that we learned in the Property course back in law school. Turns out, that doctrine has been abrogated by Scotus in 1946, US v Causby.

You might check out Cheskov v. Port of Seattle about property owners near Seatac that gives the question some treatment.  But I’m not sure there is much to hang your hat on. Maybe cut a deal with the balloon people to circumvent the horse stables?

In the Causby case, owners of a chicken farm which was located in line with the airport runway sued the United States, as lessor of the airport and owner of the military planes which, in landing and taking off, flew at levels of as low as eighty-three feet over the plaintiffs' land. These flights so frightened the plaintiffs' chickens that as many as six to ten of them were killed each day from flying into the walls of the enclosure in which they were kept; and the plaintiffs eventually had to give up the chicken business. The low level flights also caused the plaintiffs to become nervous and frightened and deprived them of their sleep. Accidents which had occurred near their property justified this fright. As a result of the flights, the plaintiffs' property was found to have depreciated to the extent of two thousand dollars.

At the time the Causby case was decided, the Congress [***13]  of the United States had defined navigable airspace as "airspace above the minimum safe altitudes of flight prescribed by the Civil Aeronautics Authority" (49 U. S. C., § 180), which (depending on the type of aircraft and the character of the terrain) was 500 feet during the day and 1000 feet at night for some, and from 300 to 1000 feet for other, aircraft.

Cheskov v. Port of Seattle, 55 Wn.2d 416, 422, 348 P.2d 673, 677 (1960)

Ray

Raymond Cleaveland
BURNS LAW, PLLC
3711 Center Street
Tacoma, WA 98409
(253) 507-5586  phone

From: wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Jason Burnett
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2024 10:06 AM
To: WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBARP] Hot Air Balloon Problems

Mates-

Does anyone have any experience addressing hot air balloons frequently flying loud and low over private property on their way to a landing site? Client lives in a rural area and keeps horses who get seriously spooked by the balloons, which often come well below 200 feet on their way to a landing site on a neighbors’ property, sometimes as low as 50 feet.  They come in as close as they do purely for the sake of convenience—because it’s close to the driveway and balloon passengers don’t have to walk across a field to get picked up after their ride.  At least one horse has been ruined in terms of spookiness. Neighbor with the landing site does not care.  Balloon company does not care.  FAA does not care.  I don’t like writing “hard” letters if I don’t have a hard thing to swing and I’m coming up dry on real hard things to swing at the balloon company or the neighbor who is allowing the company to land on his property.

Jason W. Burnett
Attorney at Law
Reed Longyear Malnati Corwin & Burnett, PLLC
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