Goodman v. United States

113 F.2d 914, 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 3488
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedAugust 6, 1940
DocketNo. 11680
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 113 F.2d 914 (Goodman v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goodman v. United States, 113 F.2d 914, 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 3488 (8th Cir. 1940).

Opinion

THOMAS, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is from an order dismissing plaintiffs’ cause of action solely on the ground that the court is without jurisdiction of the subject matter.

Plaintiffs’ cause of action is asserted in a petition containing two counts, both under the Tucker Act. Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 41(20). The claim is founded upon the Act of Congress of January 21, 1927, 44 Stat. 1010, 1013, authorizing -the improvement of the Missouri river between Kansas City, Missouri, and Sioux City, Iowa, “with a view to securing a permanent navigable channel six feet in depth.” The plaintiff Goodman owns a tract of agricultural land lying in the alluvial river bottom in Mills county, Iowa, about 17 miles downstream from the City of Omaha, Nebraska, and he leases another tract not far from the first. Prior to 1937, the government commenced work on the authorized improvements by the construction of pile dikes and revetments in and along the river above, adjacent to and below plaintiffs’ lands in order to effect the purpose of making a six foot navigable channel. The plaintiffs allege that the proximate result of the construction work was to obstruct and interfere with the natural width and flow of the river and thereby artificially raise the natural level of the flood water of the river in excess of three feet higher than it would have been but for the doing of such work. In 1937 and 1938 plaintiffs’ lands were overflowed by flood waters and the crops destroyed. Plaintiffs allege that the lands were overflowed as a result of the improvements constructed by the government and that the lands will, for an indefinite period in the future, be subject to such overflows.

In count one of the petition plaintiffs allege that by reason of the construction of the above described improvements the government has “taken” without condemnation one-half the value of the tract of land owned by Goodman; and in count two they claim a “taking” of the 1937 and 1938 crops on the leased tract, and compensation is demanded in each count.

The defendant contends that the court was without jurisdiction because the government is not suable in the federal courts without its consent, and that it has not waived its immunity from suit in this instance. Plaintiffs concede that the government is not suable without its consent; but, it is contended, there was an implied agreement to pay for the taking of the land, compensation for which is guaran[916]*916teed by the Fifth Amendment; that the cause of action does not sound in tort; and that, therefore, the consent to suit is given by the Tucker Act. To this contention the government replies (1) that there has been no “taking” of plaintiffs’ property within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment and (2) that a right to maintain the suit is not granted under the Tuckgr Act because plaintiffs’ ■ cause of action does sound in tort.

The Fifth Amendment provides: “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

The pertinent part of the Tucker Act provides that the district courts shall have original jurisdiction “Concurrent with the Court of Claims, of all claims not exceeding $10,000 founded upon, the Constitution of the United States or any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of an executive department, or upon any contract, express or implied, with the Government of the United States, or for damages, liquidated or unliquidated, in cases not sounding in tort, in respect to which claims the party would be entitled to redress against the United States, either in a court of law, equity, or admiralty, if the United States were suable.”

The court found, or the evidence discloses, that the Missouri river is a navigable stream which during the months of March, April,' May, June and July of each year carries a large amount of flood water from upstream past plaintiffs’ land. Prior to the construction of the government works in aid of navigation pursuant to the Act of Congress, the channel of the river past plaintiffs’ lands was sufficiently broad to carry ordinary floods. The river carries a large amount of silt and other debris, and because of the deposit of such silt and debris the river frequently changes its channel. The channel is sinuous and meandering. Records of the floods and of the meandering of the river have been kept for many years. At one time the channel flowed across what is now plaintiffs’ land. All of plaintiffs’ land is accretion land lying in the river bottoms adjacent to or near the channel. Floods in 1872, 1881, and 1927 covered most of the lands. The flood level on plaintiffs’ lands in 1927 was approximately 10 inches lower, however, than it was in 1937, 1938, and 1939, although the volume of water was substantially greater in 1927 than in the latter years.

As a part of the Missouri river navigation program the government has constructed on the main stem of the river the Fort Peck Dam in Montana. Its purpose is to regulate the flow of the river primarily for navigation purposes and secondarily for its effect on flood control. It was partially in operation in 1938 but not in 1937 or 1939. Had it been in operation in those years it would have substantially reduced the flood heights below their natural levels. It will soon be in full operation; and the plan contemplates that it will fully control the flood waters originating in the headwaters of the Missouri river.

The floods are also affected by a change made in the government plan in 1938. Just below plaintiffs’ lands there is a sharp bend in the river known as St. Mary’s Bend. It is of the oxbow type, the river flowing around a long and narrow peninsula of land extending eastwardly. In 1938 the government constructed a channel across the neck of the bend, and the new channel already carries one-half to two-thirds of the ordinary flow of the water.

The improvements constructed by the government in the vicinity of plaintiffs’ land consist of revetments along the banks of the river to prevent their washing away and pile dikes extending from the shores into the bed of the river for the purpose of restricting the water into a narrower channel. All of the structures complained of are in the navigable channel of the river and none of them are upon or touch plaintiffs’ lands. The tops of the dikes are below the flood level of the river. Their effect is to 'cause the water to flow around their ends and to confine the stream at ordinary levels in a narrower channel. As a result, the silt carried by the river settles on the lower or downstream side of the dikes, raising the bed of the river in that part of the flood plain while at the same time the water scours and deepens the narrower channel giving it the desired depth for navigation purposes.

The trial court found that as the direct result of the construction of the pile dikes and the sedimentation resulting therefrom the ordinary high-water channel in the vicinity of plaintiffs’ lands was obstructed and the carrying capacity thereof reduced, thereby causing the flood waters of the •river to be raised to a level of three feet [917]*917above that which it would have been had the government work not been done; that the increase in the flood levels of the river caused and resulted in the overflow of a large proportion of plaintiffs’ lands ■during the years 1937, 1938, and 1939; and that but for the government work the overflow would not have occurred.

The court further found that it is reasonably to be anticipated that the government work, as it now exists, will cause a future flooding of plaintiffs’ lands in times -of ordinary floods in the river and will reduce their value.

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Bluebook (online)
113 F.2d 914, 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 3488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodman-v-united-states-ca8-1940.