## Facts

- RaceTrac owned a parcel in Cookeville, Tennessee and constructed a gas station and parking lot by adding fill dirt and creating a sloped embankment to support the lot.
- In 1993 RaceTrac sold an adjacent 3.221-acre portion to XI Properties; due to a deed mistake, the conveyance included the embankment and a portion of RaceTrac’s parking lot.
- The boundary error was not discovered until 1999 when XI Properties planned development and obtained a survey.
- XI Properties’ intended development would require removing part of the embankment that physically supported RaceTrac’s remaining parking lot.
- RaceTrac objected and asserted XI Properties had a duty to maintain lateral support for RaceTrac’s property.
- XI Properties filed a declaratory-judgment action to determine the parties’ rights and duties regarding lateral support and excavation.

## Issues

1. Whether, under Tennessee law, a landowner must provide lateral support to adjoining land that has been altered from its natural state (including by fill, grading, or other improvements).
2. Whether a landowner who excavates its own land remains subject to a duty of reasonable care in conducting the excavation.

## Decision

- The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals on the lateral-support question.
- The court held that the duty of lateral support extends only to the naturally necessary support of adjoining land in its natural state and does not require support of altered or improved adjoining land.
- Because the relevant support condition (the embankment/parking lot configuration) was artificial and created by RaceTrac’s fill and construction, XI Properties owed no duty to preserve that support as a matter of lateral-support doctrine.
- The court left intact the qualification that XI Properties could not excavate negligently and must exercise reasonable care in performing any excavation.

## Legal Principles

- A landowner has a duty to provide lateral support only for an adjoining owner’s land in its natural state.
- There is no strict lateral-support duty to protect adjoining land to the extent its need for support arises from buildings, fill, grading, or other improvements.
- A landowner may excavate on its own property even if doing so affects support for an adjoining owner’s altered land, provided the excavation does not withdraw naturally necessary support for the adjoining land in its natural state.
- Independent of strict lateral-support rules, excavation must be performed with reasonable care; negligent excavation that causes avoidable harm can create liability.

## Conclusion

The Tennessee Supreme Court aligned Tennessee with the majority rule by limiting lateral-support duties to neighboring land in its natural condition, rejecting a strict duty to maintain artificial support for a neighbor’s improved land, while preserving potential liability for negligent excavation.


XI Properties, Inc. v. RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc., 151 S.W.3d 443 (Tenn. 2004)