City of Pampa v. Long

110 S.W.2d 1001, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 1310
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 25, 1937
DocketNo. 4807.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 110 S.W.2d 1001 (City of Pampa v. Long) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Pampa v. Long, 110 S.W.2d 1001, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 1310 (Tex. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

FOLLEY, Justice.

This is a suit instituted by the plaintiff below, Mark Long, against the defendant below, the City of Pampa, a municipal corporation. The plaintiff alleged he was the owner of lots 2 and 3 in block 6, Crawford addition to the city of Pampa, in Gray County, Tex. This property was located in the northwest corner of said block, and was bounded on the east by Wynne street, on the south by Browning street, on the west by Carr street, and an alley ran through said block from east to west. That in 1930 the defendant city improved Browning street with paving, curbs, and gutters; that said improvements were negligently constructed, in that the south laterals and ditches of said street extending east and west were higher than the north side of said street, all of which caused an increased volume of water to flow from an easterly direction down Browning street to Carr and Wynne streets; that on September 6, 1935, there were certain pipes, curbs, and driveways in, along, and across the- laterals and ditches of Carr and Wynne streets which were too small to carry the water flowing down the same. That the city was negligent in that it allowed dirt and rubbish to accumulate in said pipe, curbs, and laterals, thereby causing an increased amount of water to flow onto block 6, and onto and across plaintiff’s lots, damaging said property in the sum of $500.

The defendant answered by general demurrer, special exceptions, and a general denial. It further alleged that said streets and the laterals and ditches thereof were properly constructed for normal rains, but that on the date in question, September 6, 1935, there was an abnormal and *1002 unusual rainfall over which defendant had no control. That if plaintiff’s property-sustained any injury as a result of the overflow of water, the same did not flow out of any of the streets or laterals of the city, but ■ such water flowed on plaintiff’s property from other private property in said block over which the defendant had no control. That the contour of the surface of the land in the vicinity of plaintiff’s property, and the natural flow of the water, was in'a northerly direction. That plaintiff’s property was approximately eighteen feet lower in elevation than Browning street on the south, and that the north line of plaintiff’s property was eight feet lower than the south line of his property.

The case was submitted to the jury on special issues on the theory of temporary injury only. The jury found that the defendant had negligently 'allowed dirt and rubbish to accumulate in the ditches and laterals of Carr and Wynne streets, which was the proximate cause of the injuries claimed by the plaintiff; that there was an increased overflow of water on plaintiff’s property at the time of the rain in question; and that plaintiff’s property had been injured in the sum of $125 as the reasonable and necessary cost of restoring the two lots to the same condition as existed before the rain.

The first two propositions of the defendant complain of the court’s refusal to sustain its exceptions to the plaintiff’s pleadings with reference to the nature of damages alleged in plaintiff’s petition. In the first portion of plaintiff’s pleading, he alleged “it would take $500.00 to repair said damage and injury or to level the said surface and place more dirt thereon and he was damaged to the amount of $500.00.” In his second count declared upon temporary injury to the property, he alleged “that said damage did occur as alleged in said first part and that he is entitled to recover the amount necessary to repair the injury and put the land back in the condition that it was at the time immediately preceding the injury, which amount is $500.00.” We think the measure of damages to real property is well settled. In the case of Trinity & S. Ry. Co. v. Schofield, 72 Tex. 496, 10 S.W. 575, 576, the Supreme Court announced the following rule: “With respect to damages to real property we believe the correct rules to be: If land is taken, or the value thereof totally destroyed, by the negligence or wrongful act of another, the owner would be entitled to recover the actual cash value of the land at the time of the taking or destruction of its value, with legal interest thereon to the time of the trial. If land is permanently injured by the negligence or wrongful act of another, but the value is not totally destroyed, the owner would be entitled to recover the difference between the actual cash value at the time immediately preceding the injury and the actual cash value immediately after the injury, with legal interest thereon to the time of the trial. If land is temporarily but not permanently injured by the negligence or wrongful act of another, the owner would be entitled to recover the amount necessary to repair 'the injury, and put the land in the condition it was at the time immediately preceding the injury, with interest thereon to the time of the trial.” Since the recovery herein was for temporary injury, we think the plaintiff, in the second count of his petition, has pleaded the essentials of his cause of action. We overrule this assignment. Houston & T. C. Ry. Co. v. Wright (Tex.Civ.App.) 195 S.W. 605; Sikes v. Rulfs (Tex.Civ.App.) 67 S.W.2d 405; Tokio Marine & Fire Ins. Co. v. Aldridge et al. (Tex.Civ.App.) 21 S.W.2d 547; 13 Tex.Jur. 163, 164, pars. 74 and 75.

Defendant’s third and fourth propositions complain of the court’s failure to give defendant special requested issue No.' 1, which was as follows: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the injury, if any, to plaintiff’s property was caused by an abnormal rain?” We have been unable to find any testimony in the record to warrant the giving of such an issue and the defendant has not pointed out any such evidence. No witness testified that the rain in question was unprecedented. On the other hand, three of the witnesses, Mark Long, Mrs. Mark Long, and Mrs. Irma Gunsaullus, testified that such rains had occurred before the one in question. We therefore hold that the testimony was insufficient to raise the issue. Kansas City, M. & O. Ry. Co. et al. v. Blackstone & Slaughter (Tex.Civ.App.) 217 S.W. 208; Texas Public Service Co. v. Armstrong et al. (Tex.Civ.App.) 37 S.W.2d 294; City of Dallas v. Cooper (Tex.Civ.App.) 34 S.W. 321; Baugh v. Gulf, C. & S. F. Ry. Co., 44 Tex.Civ.App. 443, 100 S.W. 958.

*1003 Propositions 5 to 13, inclusive, being germane to the same subject-matter, we shall discuss them as a whole. These propositions complain 'of the court’s failure to submit to'the jury issues seeking to determine whether the injury to plaintiff’s land was caused in whole or in part by overflow waters which ran across plaintiff’s land from private property in block 6, over which the defendant had no control, and further because the court refused to submit an issue as to whether plaintiff’s alleged injury was caused solely by overflow waters from defendant’s streets. Defendant also complains of the court’s refusal to submit an issue inquiring if the plaintiff’s land would have been injured by the rain in question irrespective of the alleged wrongs and negligence of the defendant. The defendant prepared and tendered to the court special issues presenting such defenses, all of which were refused by the court.

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Bluebook (online)
110 S.W.2d 1001, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 1310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-pampa-v-long-texapp-1937.