Canyon View Irrigation Co. v. Twin Falls Canal Co.

619 P.2d 122, 101 Idaho 604, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 528
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 9, 1980
Docket13174
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 619 P.2d 122 (Canyon View Irrigation Co. v. Twin Falls Canal Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Canyon View Irrigation Co. v. Twin Falls Canal Co., 619 P.2d 122, 101 Idaho 604, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 528 (Idaho 1980).

Opinions

BAKES, Justice.

In this case we address several significant questions presented by the attempt of one irrigation company to condemn a right to enlarge and use a portion of another irrigation company’s existing canal system.

Plaintiff appellant Canyon View Irrigation Company (CV) and defendant respondent Twin Falls Canal Company (TFCC) are non-profit irrigation companies. TFCC currently operates canals on an easement granted to TFCC’s predecessor by the State of Idaho pursuant to a 1903 contract. The easement runs through the property of a number of landowners who are not parties to this action but appear as amicus curiae. TFCC transports at times approximately 3,000 cfs of water through its canal.

[607]*607CV has purchased, or is in the process of purchasing, approximately 300 cfs of Snake River water and seeks to put that water to beneficial use on land located west of TFCC’s canal system. CV has no canal and there exists no natural waterway by which CV’s water can be transported by gravity to its stockholders’ lands. Therefore, CV seeks to divert its water from the Snake River into TFCC’s canal system and then reclaim a like amount, with due allowance for seepage and evaporation, at a headgate closer to its irrigation project site. TFCC’s existing canal system is apparently unable to accommodate CV’s extra water. CV therefore proposes to improve, expand and enlarge the canal system where necessary. CV is willing to bear the entire expense of any such improvements. It is also willing to pay for its pro-rata share of the enlarged canal system’s maintenance costs.

CV approached TFCC with this proposal, but TFCC refused to negotiate for the common use of the canal system. CV then commenced this action in the district court for declaratory relief. In its compliant, CV asked the court below to declare its right to proceed against TFCC in eminent domain by condemning a common right to use TFCC’s canal system. Alternatively, CV claimed that its landowners had the right to become shareholders of TFCC as third party beneficiaries of the 1903 contract between TFCC’s predecessor and the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners.

The case was tried upon stipulated facts. The parties also presented a stipulated statement of issues to the court below. Besides the two main issues regarding eminent domain and the interpretation of the 1903 contract, the parties asked the district court to settle some legal questions in the event that it found CV was entitled to condemn an interest in the canal system. First, the parties wished to know what effect the condemnation suit would have on the various owners of land adjacent to TFCC’s canal system. Second, the parties requested that the court determine the proper measure of damages in the event CV’s plan was implemented through condemnation proceedings.

The district court concluded that CV would not be entitled to the requested relief under either the law of eminent domain or the 1903 contract. While we agree that CV’s shareholders do not enjoy any rights as third party beneficiaries under the contract, we conclude that CV can proceed by way of eminent domain, álthough the current state of the record precludes us from completely resolving all of the issues presented to the court below.

I

In order to assist owners of water rights whose lands are remote from the water source, the state has partially delegated its powers of eminent domain to private individuals. I.C. §§ 42-1102 and-1106. See White v. Marty, 97 Idaho 85, 540 P.2d 270 (1975). These statutes permit landlocked individuals to condemn a right of way through the lands of others for purposes of irrigation.

To condemn such a right of way, the water right owners must proceed under Idaho’s law of eminent domain, found in I.C. §§ 7-701 et seq. Article 1, § 14, of the Idaho Constitution permits the power of eminent domain to be exercised only in furtherance of a “public use.” The irrigation and reclamation of arid lands is a well recognized public use, Idaho Const, art. 1, § 14, and art. 15, § 1; I.C. § 7-701(3), even if the irrigation project is ostensibly intended to benefit only private individuals. Clark v. Nash, 198 U.S. 361, 25 S.Ct. 676 (1905), affirming 75 P. 371 (Utah 1904). “[Article 1, § 14, of the Idaho Constitution] confers the right to condemn for individual use on the theory that the development of individual property tends to the complete development of the entire state.” Codd v. McGoldrick Lumber Co., 48 Idaho 1, 10, 279 P. 298, 300 (1929).

Easements or rights of way are one type of property subject to condemna[608]*608tion for a public use. I.C. § 7-702(2).1 See Hughes v. State, 80 Idaho 286, 328 P.2d 397 (1958). Rights of way may also be condemned for the purposes of concurrent use in common with the existing owners. I.C. § 7-703(5); 2 Portneuf Irrigating Co., Ltd. v. Budge, 16 Idaho 116, 100 P. 1046 (1909). In such cases, the original easement owner is not really being deprived of his easement outright; only its exclusive use. The condemnation imposes a form of concurrent ownership. Both the condemnor and condemnee will enjoy the right to use the easement.

Generally, property already devoted to a public use, like TFCC’s canal system, cannot be taken by eminent domain unless the condemnor proposes to put the property to a “more necessary public use.” I.C. §§ 7-703(3) and -704(3).3 However, the condemnor need not demonstrate a “more necessary public use” when condemning only the right to the common use of an existing right of way previously appropriated for public use. Portneuf Irrigating Co., Ltd. v. Budge, supra; Marsh Mining Co. v. Inland Empire Mining & Milling Co., 30 Idaho 1, 165 P. 1128 (1916). Although the condemnation must still be “necessary” and must be accomplished in a “manner most compatible with the greatest public benefit and least private injury,” I.C. § 7-703(5), absolute necessity is not required. It is enough if the taking is reasonably necessary. Erickson v. Amoth, 99 Idaho 907, 591 P.2d 1074 (1978); March Mining Co. v. Inland Empire Mining & Milling Co., supra. The party seeking to condemn an easement must show a more necessary public use only if the existing owner’s use “will be defeated or seriously interfered with . . . .” Marsh Mining Co. v. Inland Empire Mining & Milling Co., 30 Idaho at 12, 165 P. at 1130. Essentially, where the former owner’s use is defeated or seriously impaired, the condemnation amounts to an outright taking rather than an appropriation of concurrent ownership, thereby triggering the greater necessity requirement found in I.C. §§ 7-703(3) and -704(3).

This is not a case of first impression. This Court had occasion to apply the same legal principles in Portneuf Irrigating Co., Ltd. v. Budge, 16 Idaho 116, 100 P. 1046 (1909) [hereinafter “Portneuf I”],4 a case virtually identical to this one. The Portneuf-Marsh Valley Irrigation Co., Ltd., had commenced an action against the Portneuf Irrigating Co., Ltd., “whereby it sought to condemn sufficient of the [latter compa

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Canyon View Irrigation Co. v. Twin Falls Canal Co.
619 P.2d 122 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
619 P.2d 122, 101 Idaho 604, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/canyon-view-irrigation-co-v-twin-falls-canal-co-idaho-1980.