1. Assume the glue factory runs 24 hours per day on a seven-day schedule and produces noxious fumes. Eventually, RSI begins to suspect that the fumes are tainting the taste of the food that is being stored in RSI’s warehouse. RSI then files suit to stop the glue factory from discharging the noxious fumes. What is RSI’s possible legal theory against the glue factory? What factors will a court use to analyze RSI’s claim? Does the glue factory have any defenses?
2. Assume that the glue factory shuts down its operations in order to expand and upgrade its facilities to prevent the emission of the noxious fumes. In the process, the glue factory adds several stories to its building. The additional stories result in a blockage of sun, which subsequently results in RSI’s solar panels being rendered useless. RSI files suit against the glue factory for interference in RSI’s property rights. What property right violation has RSI alleged? What case in the text gives you some guidance on this question? Is the RSI case distinguishable from that case? Who prevails in the RSI–glue factory case and why?
3. Assume that in preparation for the building renovation the glue factory conducts a survey and finds that RSI’s driveway has been built 15 feet too wide and encroaches on the glue factory’s property. Since the time it built the warehouse, RSI has maintained the road, removed snow, and so on. One day RSI gets a letter from the owner of the glue factory demanding that the driveway be ripped up and repaved consistent with the correct property line. Can RSI use the doctrine of adverse possession to refuse the demand? What are the standards that courts use to analyze ownership via adverse possession?
4. Suppose that RSI is owned by Abel and that his son, Abel Jr., is the top manager in charge of business operations. When planning how the business will pass from Abel to his son upon Abel’s death, Abel wishes to have the ownership of the warehouse pass to his spouse for her lifetime and then to Abel Jr. What type of ownership interest could Abel use to accomplish this objective? What restrictions will his spouse have once she inherits the warehouse?
5. Assume that RSI wishes to increase its solar panel usage by purchasing large brand A panels and installing them on the rooftop of the warehouse. However, a city ordinance exists that bans the use of brand A panels because they tend to make a building look less attractive. What is this type of ordinance called? Is this type of ordinance legal? Why or why not? Assuming that the ordinance is legal, are there any alternatives that RSI could pursue with local authorities?
Restaurant Supply Inc. (RSI) is a wholesale supplier of food and nonfood kitchen products for restaurants and hotels. Last year, RSI signed up a large hotel chain as a new client. In order to fill the needs of their new client, the principals of RSI decided to expand by constructing a new warehouse in an industrially zoned section of the city. RSI also received a tax credit for installing alternative energy sources in its new warehouse, so it invested $50,000 in a new solar panel system to be placed on the roof of the warehouse to serve as a source of power, with traditional gas and electric as a backup system. RSI eventually finished construction of the warehouse and the solar panels and immediately moved its food and nonfood inventory into the warehouse. A few months after RSI moved into its new warehouse, the property adjacent to RSI’s was sold to a glue factory.
