Odors do not constitute a trespass

The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the traditional distinction between nuisance and trespass law by holding that invasion by microscopic particles does not constitute a trespass. Owners located near a landfill needed to make a nuisance claim and prove unreasonableness rather that merely asserting a claim for a physical invasion. Babb v. Lee County Landfill SC, LLC, 747 S.E.2d 468 (S.C. 2013). Some courts have altered the traditional rules and have found a trespass when pollution enters the ground and causes substantial harm but the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected that approach