Consolidated Home Supply Ditch & Reservoir Co. v. Hamlin

6 Colo. App. 341
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 15, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 6 Colo. App. 341 (Consolidated Home Supply Ditch & Reservoir Co. v. Hamlin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Consolidated Home Supply Ditch & Reservoir Co. v. Hamlin, 6 Colo. App. 341 (Colo. Ct. App. 1895).

Opinions

Reed, J.,

delivered thfe opinion of the court.

A large number of errors are assigned, many going to the admission and refusal of evidence in establishing the extent of the damage sustained, others going to the instructions of the court. The case has been ably and exhaustively argued by counsel. The court limited the evidence to the period of six years before action brought. The plaintiff testified that in 1884 seepage destroyed about one acre, in 1885 about three or four acres.

The first contention of counsel for appellant is, the fact having been established of the injuries having commenced seven or eight years before bringing the action, no action could be maintained, and that the court erred in holding that the action was based upon a continuing nuisance, and that [344]*344damages were recoverable for six years preceding the bringing of the action. Many authorities are cited in favor of the contention,- — most of them from the state of Iowa, two from the state of Illinois. In Van Pelt v. City of Davenport, 42 Iowa, 308, cited by counsel, the question was in no way involved nor adjudicated.

In Stodghill v. Railroad Co., 53 Iowa, 341, plaintiff was the owner of land crossed by a natural stream; the railroad company built an embankment, dug a new channel and permanently diverted the stream from the land of plaintiff. The court very properly held that the damage was entire and susceptible of recovery immediately upon the permanent diversion of the stream, and that the plaintiff could not divide his claim, and maintain successive actions.

In Simpson v. Keokuk, 34 Iowa, 568, cited by counsel, no such question was raised.

The case of Powers v. Council Bluffs, 45 Iowa, 652, comes nearer than anj'- other from that state in sustaining the contention, if only the syllabus is looked to. Indian creek, a crooked living stream of water, meandered the street of the city. The city changed its course by cutting a ditch on the side of the street and diverting across the front of lots owned by the plaintiff. The court held that' when the ditch was dug and water diverted all the damage had been sustained and an action would then lie, that there was no subsequent and continuing damage, and the statute commenced to run a,t the date of the diversion and. the action barred in five years. In principle this case is not distinguishable from Stodghill v. Railroad, (supra). The ease is carefully considered and the distinction drawn which takes the case at bar out of the decision in that.

The court says, “ The only question in this case is as to the character of the damage. Was it as it accrued from day to day new damage? If so, the plaintiff was entitled under the evidence to recover some damages, although his right of action as to apart of the-damages sustained might be barred. We have to distinguish then between what must be regarded [345]*345as original damages'and what may be regarded as new damages.”

Van Orsdol v. Railroad, 56 Iowa, 470, was suit brought for the diversion of a stream in the construction of the railroad, whereby sand and earth were washed upon and deposited on plaintiff’s land. The defendant, as in this case, contended that the injury complained of occurred in 1873 when the railroad was built, and that the action was barred by the statute of limitations. The evidence showed that no damage occurred until 1876, and the court held that the statute did not run until the damage was done.

In Railroad Co. v. McAuley, 121 Ill. 160, counsel seem to have overlooked one important part of the decision; the court in discriminating between a permanent injury where the whole damage occurred at the date of the act and a continuous injury or nuisance says, “The continuance of the injurious acts is considered a new nuisance for which a fresh action will lie; and although the original cause of action is barred, damages may be recovered for the continuance of the nuisance,” citing with approval Wood on Limitations, 371; Thompson v. Reed, 48 Ill. 118; though discussing the statute of limitations was in regard to bill for board and has no bearing upon the question under discussion.

Counsel cite Gould on Waters, sec. 416 ; but an examination-shows it only relates to permanent injury complete when the act is done, not to a continuing .trespass or nuisance.

If the contention of counsel is adopted there can be no recovery in cases of this character; taking the line of authorities relied upon we would find that the cause of action accrued at the time the ditch was excavated; at that time there was no damage to compensate, nor could it have been- foreseen that in the future, water percolating from the ditch and by subterranean channels or courses, upon the surface of the underlying rock, seeking a lower level, would find a basin where the further drainage would be stopped and a large body of subterranean water accumulating from year to year would ultimately extend to the surface and destroy a large [346]*346portion of the farm. The damages being long subsequent to the building of a ditch, and the injury arising from causes impossible to have been foreseen, the extent of the injury impossible to determine, it follows that at the time of the construction there was no cause of action, and no recovery could have been had, nor after two or three years when the injury became apparent and three or four acres of land had been destroyed could the damage sustained and prospective damage, have been recovered, as contended, in a single action, from the impossibility of knowing the extent of subsequent injury. It will be apparent, that the damage arose from the other class of injuries.

No suit could have been maintained until some actual injury was caused to the plaintiff by the water, resulting from the improper construction of the ditch. The right to ■construct and operate the ditch had been-granted. No damage could have been recovered for the construction, but all unforeseen and resulting damage from its operation and improper construction and continuance could be recovered. Wash, on Eas. & Serv. 591.

In 3 Black. Com. 220, it is said, that every continuance of a nuisance is a new one for which a fresh action will lie. The leading English-cases sustaining this doctrine are Holmes v. Wilson, 10 Adolph. & El. 503; and Bowyer v. Cook, 4 Man. G. & S. 236.

In 1 Wms. Saund. 20, note 1, it is said “ The continuing of a trespass from day to day is considered in law a several trespass on each day.” See Battishill v. Reed, 18 Com. B. 696; and Stroyan v. Knowles, 6 Hurl, and Nor. 454.

In Whitehouse v. Fellows, 10 Com. B. 765, it was said : “ If the cause of action be, not the doing of the thing, but the resulting of damage only, the period of limitation is to be computed from the time when the plaintiff sustained the injury.”

But few of the leading American authorities out of the great mass need be cited.

The distinction between the two classes of injuries are fully [347]*347discussed, in Gould on Water Rights, sec. 428; Wood on Nuisance, secs. 858 to 856, and Wood on Limitations of Actions, sec. 180.

Of state decisions, see Delaware & R. Canal Co. v. Lee, 2 Zab. (N.

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Bluebook (online)
6 Colo. App. 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/consolidated-home-supply-ditch-reservoir-co-v-hamlin-coloctapp-1895.