Dunavant v. United States

520 F. Supp. 39, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14042
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedJune 8, 1981
DocketNo. PB-C-77-233
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 520 F. Supp. 39 (Dunavant v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunavant v. United States, 520 F. Supp. 39, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14042 (E.D. Ark. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

OREN HARRIS, Senior District Judge.

The plaintiff, Robert E. Dunavant, brings this action against the United States of America pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act. 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq. Title 28, § 2674 provides that the United States shall be liable, respecting the provisions relating to tort claims, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances.

The plaintiff is the owner and in possession of real property consisting of agricultural acreage and improvements of certain lands in Chicot County, Arkansas. This land is adjoining but outside of the Mississippi River levee.

The incidents which gave rise to this federal tort claim action occurred at a time when the plaintiff was the owner and in possession of farm lands located in Chicot County, Arkansas. During the year 1976, the plaintiff, as he had done in farming the land for a number of years, planted soybean and cotton crops upon his lands.

The mainline Mississippi River levees were built across various types of material which had been deposited by the meanderings of the river channel over hundreds of years. Many of the deposits provide little resistance to underground flow of seepage water caused by high river stages. These weak areas .of porous deposits tend to jeopardize the integrity of flood control levees up and down the Mississippi River.

The mainline levees of the Mississippi River have been developed by the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army as authorized by the Congress from on or about the time of the 1927 flood. The development of this program has been largely through the Corps of Engineers with the control and guidance of the Mississippi River Commission.

At the request of the Mississippi River Commission, approximately 1962, the Vicksburg District of the Corps of Engineers developed a program for completion of the main stem Mississippi River levees. Included was a requirement for a comprehensive subsurface investigation to identify portions of the levee susceptible to the underseepage problem. Subsequently, as part of the program to complete the Mississippi River levee system as authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1928, as amended [33 U.S.C. § 702a et seq.], a program was initiated for the systematic design and construction of landside seepage berms in the Vicksburg District. This particular program identified a need for underseepage control for about 246 miles of mainline levee in the Vicksburg District, which includes an area currently occupied by the Walker Bend berm.

The original design and right-of-way requirements for the Walker Bend berm were based on the Project Design Flood Flowjine computed in 1956. Plans and specifications were completed in 1969 which included the relocation of an existing county road parallel to the landside toe of the seepage berm. This relocated county roadway was designed with numerous cross-drains to allow the rainfall runoff from the berm to enter the natural drainage system which flowed in a westernly direction away from the levee.

As a result of the 1973 flood experience, the Corps of Engineers decided that the Project Flood Design Flowline should be revised upward some 4.6 feet in the vicinity of Walker Bend, Arkansas. This revision required a somewhat larger berm for underseepage control. Plans and specifications were revised accordingly.

The plaintiff, Robert E. Dunavant, owned in excess of 250 acres of land adjoining the Walker Bend Arc landside seepage berm beginning at the northern end and extending south along the landside berm for some distance. Mr. Dunavant had farmed these lands in question for many years. He primarily produced cotton and soybeans. The northern most part of the plaintiffs land [41]*41was located between the beginning of the berm on the northern end and a substantial body of water known as Lake Chicot. This area is recognized as some of the most productive farming lands in the entire Mississippi Delta.

In order to construct what is known as the Walker Bend berm, a right-of-way was requested by the Corps of Engineers on March 16, 1974. Subsequently, approximately 89 acres of land owned by the plaintiff, Dunavant, was condemned by the Southeastern Arkansas Levee District. This land, on which a substantial part of the berm was to be constructed, was condemned in order to begin the work, pending a determination of the value of the land and just compensation.

The Corps of Engineers contends that having to condemn the property owned by Mr. Dunavant delayed acquisition of right-of-way and hence, postponed the initiation of the construction until July 8, 1975. It is undisputed and it should be noted, however, that the Corps of Engineers had been aware of the problem of landside seepage and sand boils within the levee along this area since 1962 and had given consideration toward correcting the recognized dangerous situation during the years from 1962 to 1976. Having completed the designs, plans, and specifications, the Corps of Engineers entered into a contract for the construction of the particular berm involved in this litigation in July, 1975. For some undisclosed reason, however, the construction work on the Project ceased in November, 1975 with substantial work to be done for its completion.

As previously noted, it was necessary to move the old road which was next to the levee and construct a new road parallel to the levee some 140 yards from the levee. This new road was designed to be approximately 30 feet wide and to have side ditches two to four feet deep to provide for water runoff at the completion of the Project.

The berm itself was constructed by building up the soil from the toe of the levee toward the new road in excess of 400 feet with a two percent slope.

It was established that the type of soil from the toe of the levee extending to and substantially over the land of the plaintiff, including the area over which the berm was constructed, was known as commerce soil. The soils in the commerce series developed from Mississippi River alluvium. They are slightly acid to mildly alkaline and drain moderately well. Up to fifty-five inches in depth, it contains grayish-brown, very friable silt loam. The moisture capability is very high, permeability moderate. It is the type of soil which would absorb water some ten times as fast as would clay type soil.1

The levee, as a part of the Flood Control Project of the mainline Mississippi River levee, was constructed at various heights, up to twenty feet or more in places, for protection of waters from the Mississippi River. The outside of the levee had a slope of twenty percent. The berm consisted of heavy clay soil which was placed on top of the commerce soil and packed. It is approximately 4.6 feet deep, beginning at the toe of the levee with a two percent slope to the relocated road. This area of the approximately 89 acres of the condemned land was conditioned to give protection to the levee against the underwater flow from the river to the levee. The underwater flow caused sand dunes and water seepage at high stages of the river. Consequently, this area, known as the berm, was virtually water proof with hardly any absorption of water falling on it or flowing over it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
520 F. Supp. 39, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14042, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunavant-v-united-states-ared-1981.