## Facts

- Annie E. Harten, age 19, was traveling lawfully on a public highway in Westchester County, New York.
- Carroll Dunham owned land abutting the highway and hired Dinkel & Jewell, contractors, to blast out trees on the land.
- Contractors placed dynamite beneath the roots of a large elm tree located about 300 feet from the highway and detonated it.
- The blast propelled a section of the stump approximately 412 feet onto the highway, where it struck Harten and caused her death within hours.
- Harten’s administratrix, Mary Sullivan, sued Dunham and the contractors for wrongful death.
- The case was tried on the theory that negligence need not be shown; plaintiff obtained verdicts at two trials, and the judgment was affirmed by the Appellate Division.
- Defendants appealed to the New York Court of Appeals, disputing liability absent proof of negligence.

## Issues

1. Whether a person who lawfully blasts on their own land, without negligence or lack of skill, is liable when blast-propelled debris strikes a person lawfully traveling on a public highway.
2. Whether such injury is treated as a direct trespass imposing liability without proof of negligence.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment for the plaintiff.
- The court held that when blasting on one’s land causes debris to be projected onto a public highway and to strike a traveler, the blaster is liable as a trespasser.
- The plaintiff was not required to prove negligence or want of skill to establish liability for the fatal injury.

## Legal Principles

- A direct physical invasion caused by blasting (debris propelled onto another’s person or property) is treated as trespass, supporting liability without proof of negligence.
- The lawful purpose of blasting and the exercise of care do not excuse responsibility for direct, tangible injury inflicted outside the blaster’s land.
- Travelers lawfully using a public highway are entitled to protection against direct physical intrusions from adjacent land uses.
- The trespass framework historically distinguished direct debris impacts (actionable without negligence) from indirect or consequential effects (often requiring negligence).

## Conclusion

The court imposed liability without fault where blasting on private land directly projected debris onto a public highway and killed a lawful traveler, treating the impact as a trespass and dispensing with any requirement that the plaintiff prove negligence.


Sullivan v. Dunham, 161 N.Y. 290 (1900)