Fitzpatrick v. Okanogan County

143 Wash. App. 288
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJanuary 22, 2008
DocketNo. 25161-6-III
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 143 Wash. App. 288 (Fitzpatrick v. Okanogan County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fitzpatrick v. Okanogan County, 143 Wash. App. 288 (Wash. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

[292]*292¶1 The common enemy rule, which allows landowners to repel surface waters to the detriment of their neighbors, does not apply when the landowner obstructs a watercourse or natural drainway or when the landowner obstructs riparian water from entering a flood channel. Currens v. Sleek, 138 Wn.2d 858, 862-63, 983 P.2d 626, 993 P.2d 900 (1999); Sund v. Keating, 43 Wn.2d 36, 42-43, 259 P.2d 1113 (1953). Landowners appeal summary dismissal of their inverse condemnation claim. They claim that a dike owned, constructed, maintained, and modified by government entities blocked side channels through which high waters would have otherwise flowed. The landowners presented evidence that the dike caused high waters flowing down the river to change the course of the channel and swept their land and home down the river. We conclude that they have presented material issues of fact that preclude summary judgment. We therefore reverse and remand.

Schultheis, J.

FACTS

¶2 Siblings Heather Fitzpatrick Sturgill and Don L. Fitzpatrick (the landowners) acquired property along the Methow River in Mazama, Washington, in the early 1980s. They built a log home and garage in the mid 1980s. Prior to June 16, 2002, the channel alignment of the Methow River was generally southwest and away from plaintiffs’ property. Their home was 80 to 100 feet from the Methow River, which was outside of the 100-year flood line.

¶3 On June 16, during a two-year storm event, the river avulsed — the channel changed course very quickly and resulted in a new channel alignment separate from the previous channel alignment. The change in channel alignment caused a substantial force of water to be redirected straight at the landowners’ property, resulting in a rapid erosion of the land and ultimately causing their house to collapse into the river. The landowners permanently lost their home, its contents, and a significant portion of land. [293]*293The garage is now located immediately along the edge of the new riverbank.

¶4 The landowners filed an action against the State of Washington and Okanogan County, claiming that the government entities’ construction of a dike upstream from their property caused the avulsion and the loss of their home.1

¶5 The government entities each moved for summary dismissal of the landowners’ action. The landowners responded with evidence that, sometime around 1975, the county and the state sponsored and constructed the Sloan-Witchert Slough Dike along the Methow River’s downstream right bank, approximately one and one half miles upstream from the landowners’ property. The dike was constructed as a public project to defend Washington State Highway 20, the Weeman Bridge, and several private properties from flooding. The dike was subsequently repaired and/or extended between 1978 and 1999.

¶6 The landowners also presented evidence through Jeffrey Bradley, PhD, a water resource management expert, that the avulsion was caused by the dike’s blockage of natural side channels, which would have relieved the flow of water in the river and prevented the landowners’ loss. The landowners asserted that the evidence presented genuine issues of material fact. The trial court granted summary dismissal.

DISCUSSION

¶7 Summary judgment is properly granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of [294]*294law. Phillips v. King County, 136 Wn.2d 946, 956, 968 P.2d 871 (1998); CR 56(c). The motion should be granted only if, from all the evidence, a reasonable person could reach only one conclusion. Folsom v. Burger King, 135 Wn.2d 658, 663, 958 P.2d 301 (1998).

¶8 We review motions for summary judgment de novo, engaging in the same inquiry as the trial court, which is to treat all facts and reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the landowners, as the nonmoving party. Phillips, 136 Wn.2d at 956. The government entities, as the moving party, have the burden to demonstrate the absence of a genuine dispute as to any material fact, with all reasonable inferences resolved against them. Folsom, 135 Wn.2d at 663.

¶9 If there is a dispute regarding the “nature or classification” of the water at issue, it is a question of fact and therefore improper for resolution on summary judgment. Snohomish County v. Postema, 95 Wn. App. 817, 820, 978 P.2d 1101 (1998). Similarly, “[w]hen a question is raised as to the existence of a natural watercourse, that question must be determined by the trier of fact.” Buxel v. King County, 60 Wn.2d 404, 408, 374 P.2d 250 (1962) (citing Tierney v. Yakima County, 136 Wash. 481, 239 P. 248 (1925)). That is precisely the issue here.

Common Enemy Doctrine

¶10 Washington courts have recognized this common law rule in some form for more than a century, which recognizes that “surface water, caused by the falling of rain or the melting of snow, and that escaping from running streams and rivers, is regarded as an outlaw and a common enemy against which anyone may defend himself, even though by so doing injury may result to others.” Cass v. Dicks, 14 Wash. 75, 78, 44 P. 113 (1896). Because its strict application has proved inequitable, our courts have developed exceptions to the common enemy rule. Currens, 138 Wn.2d at 861-62.

¶11 Washington’s common enemy doctrine “allows landowners to alter the flow of surface water to the detriment of [295]*295their neighbors, so long as they do not block a watercourse or natural drainway.” Id. at 862-63. Landowners are not shielded from liability if they dam up a stream, gully, or drainway, because “[a] natural drainway must be kept open to carry water into streams and lakes.” Id. at 862 (citing 78 Am. Jur. 2d Waters § 134 (1975)).

¶12 The landowners have presented evidence that the waters held back by the dike would have otherwise flowed through natural side channels and rejoined the river. The government entities argue that the common enemy doctrine insulates upstream landowners, as a matter of law, from damage caused by diking because the watercourse/drainway obstruction rule does not apply to diking. The government entities rely largely on Halverson v. Skagit County, 139 Wn.2d 1, 983 P.2d 643 (1999).

¶13 In Halverson, the landowners’ properties along the Skagit River were flood-damaged, which they claimed was exacerbated by the presence of levees along the river.2 Our Supreme Court reversed the judgment because, in part, the common enemy doctrine provided a complete defense to the county’s liability and the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury on the doctrine. Halverson, 139 Wn.2d at 13-14.

¶14 The landowners in this case properly point out that the overbank floodwaters in Halverson did not flow within a defined flood channel. Id. at 14 n.14. The

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Related

Fitzpatrick v. Okanogan County
169 Wash. 2d 598 (Washington Supreme Court, 2010)

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Bluebook (online)
143 Wash. App. 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fitzpatrick-v-okanogan-county-washctapp-2008.