Also known as: lateral support · subadjacent support · subjacent support · lateral and subjacent support · right of support · support rights
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A property right entitling the owner of land to the naturally necessary support of adjacent land against lateral subsidence and of underlying land against subjacent subsidence. One who withdraws such support is subject to liability for resulting harm to the land and any artificial additions on it.
Logan Lane owns a hillside home next to a commercial site where Linden Logistics begins deep excavation. As the digging proceeds, engineers warn that continued work will remove naturally necessary lateral support and cause the home's foundation to subside. Logan seeks an interlocutory injunction to halt the excavation before structural collapse occurs.
Lillian Locke owns surface land above mineral rights held by Lotus Pharmaceuticals. When the company removes supporting strata of coal, the surface begins to subside and cracks appear in Lillian's residence. She sues for damages caused by the withdrawal of subjacent support.
Landon Long owns the surface estate while Lakewood Manufacturing owns the support estate beneath it. When Lakewood extracts coal in a manner that removes lateral support, Landon's land subsides. He claims the removal constitutes a taking of his property rights.
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Lena Lawson owns homes above coal seams that Pennsylvania Coal Co. plans to mine. The company has reserved the right to remove all coal, but state law requires pillars to remain for support. Lena sues to prevent subsidence that would damage her properties.
Lola Langley owns a unit in a hillside condominium. The homeowners association elects a less expensive method of slope stabilization that negligently withdraws lateral support from her unit. The unit begins to shift, and Lola sues the association for resulting harm.
Liability arises when a person withdraws the naturally necessary lateral support of land in another's possession. The Restatement imposes strict liability for subsidence of land that was naturally dependent on the withdrawn support and negligence liability for harm to artificial additions.
The duty protects land in its natural state under a strict-liability standard. Negligence is required before liability extends to harm suffered by artificial additions such as buildings or retaining walls.
A court may grant preliminary relief when the plaintiff faces a serious threat of irreparable structural harm that cannot be adequately remedied by later money damages. Engineers' warnings of catastrophic foundation failure satisfy this standard.
An employer who knows or should know that the work is likely to withdraw lateral support remains subject to the same liability as if it had performed the work itself.
…it has paid for. If in any case its representatives have been so short sighted as to acquire only surface rights without the right of support, we see no more authority for supplying the latter without compensation than there was for taking the right of way in the first place and refusing to pay for it because the public wanted it…