Hagadone v. Dawson County Irrigation Co.

285 N.W. 600, 136 Neb. 258, 1939 Neb. LEXIS 94
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 5, 1939
DocketNo. 30565
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 285 N.W. 600 (Hagadone v. Dawson County Irrigation Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hagadone v. Dawson County Irrigation Co., 285 N.W. 600, 136 Neb. 258, 1939 Neb. LEXIS 94 (Neb. 1939).

Opinion

Paine, J.

This is an action in equity for an injunction to prevent the diversion of water into, and the increase of the flow of, a natural stream, and for damages already sustained by such acts. The trial court found for the plaintiff, and assessed the damages at the sum of $400, and permanently enjoined the defendants from overflowing water into the creek on plaintiff’s land. Supersedeas bond was fixed at $1,000, and one of the defendants, the Dawson County Irrigation Company, brings appeal to this court.

The appealing defendant assigns as errors that the judgment of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence; that the court erred in adjudging the appealing defendant jointly liable with the other defendant, the Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District; that the court erred in arbitrarily dividing the damages accruing from the water diverted in July and August, 1936, and the damages accruing in October, November, and December, 1936, alleging that there is no evidence upon which to base such division; complains that the amount of the damages allowed is excessive, and charges that the court erred in enjoining [260]*260the appealing defendant from wasting irrigation water into Strever creek.

Cy Hagadone and his wife, Annie, own a quarter-section of land some 11 miles northwest of Lexington, which he purchased in 1913. On the land there are 35 acres of alfalfa, 60 acres of pasture, and other land is tillable. Across his farm meandered Strever creek, a small creek, usually flowing water about five or six inches deep and 18 to 20 inches wide, and even in the rainy seasons the creek would not be over four or five feet wide, and farm teams with wagons, or mowing machines, or other farm equipment, could be driven across the creek to work on the other side, and live stock could go to pasturage anywhere along its banks.

Loella Strever is the owner of the land above Hagadone’s, and Strever creek flows from her land onto and across the Hagadone land. Leland Strever is the tenant on Loella Strever’s land, and they were made parties defendant, but at the close of the trial the court dismissed the cause of action as to both of them.

The Dawson County Irrigation Company’s ditch crosses over Strever creek on the land of the defendant Loella Strever, and during July, August, and September, 1933, said irrigation company caused a large amount of water to be diverted into Strever creek from its ditch, and this flowed in Strever creek from the Strever land onto the Hagadone land, and caused considerable damage. The evidence shows that since said time the defendants have caused said creek to overflow from waters discharged into said creek at some time during the irrigation season of each succeeding year; that in July and August, 1936, the defendants, Dawson County Irrigation Company and Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District, through their dump-box, by direction.of Richard Nosky, engineer of said irrigation district, raised and lowered a check in said canal where it crossed the land of Charles Knauss, approximately one-half mile east of said dump-box on said canal, and caused the waters to escape, and after said waters had [261]*261been caused to escape into Strever creek and pass through plaintiff’s land, they were further down delivered to the defendant Elm Creek Ditch Company; that this large amount of water put into it caused Strever creek to be of a depth of four feet nine inches at times, and 40 feet in width, and so diverted said water into Strever creek for a period of 24 days, and as said water overflowed along the Hagadone land it caused considerable damage, destroyed fences, damaged his pasture, washed out the banks of said creek, and washed down trees that were growing on said banks; that again in October, November, and December the defendants caused water to flow as before, and caused much additional damage, all as set out in the pleadings.

The evidence disclosed that water was diverted in this way for a total of some 84 days, and that the amount diverted. amounted to over 2,000 acre feet of water, or enough to cover three sections of land one foot deep, and that the high water got up over the Hagadone farm bridge on his place. The evidence was that the water was taken down through Strever creek, and ten or twelve miles below, what was left of it went into Batty lateral, which was not constructed until 1930.

It is disclosed that in the summer of 1936 the irrigation district had accumulated water in its Sutherland reservoir, and contracted to deliver water to its irrigators; that the Platte river was practically dry, and if they had put this water back in the Platte river it would simply dry up and not run down the river; that an arrangement was made that the Sutherland project would bring it to the Dawson County Irrigation Company, which simply permitted the use of its canal to the waste point on the Strever land and then the water was carried down the Strever creek, which method would eventually deliver it to a point near the headgate of the Elm Creek Ditch Company, and Mr. Stuckey, the president of the company, gave the use of his canal as a matter of convenience. The evidence further shows that an employee of the Sutherland district [262]*262kept a record of the flow of water, and the engineer, Mr. Nosky, was there in charge of the whole thing; that it was agreed that the best way to take it to the Elm, Creek canal ditch was through this plan. The defendants claim that it was done with the consent of the state department of roads and irrigation.

It is argued that the court erred in lumping the damages of the two floods together, for they are separate torts, and that the Dawson County Irrigation Company had no responsibility whatever for the damage done by the first flood in July and August, and that the Platte Valley Irrigation District had nothing to do with the flooding in October, November, and December, and that these independent torts cannot be combined into one claim; that they were clearly independent tort-feasors.

Section 20-808, Comp. St. 1929, provides that, in the case of misjoinder of parties, if no objection is taken by demurrer or answer, the defendant shall be deemed to have waived the same, and in this case no demurrer or motion was filed, and nothing set out in the answer raising the question of misjoinder, and it appears to be raised in this court for the first time.

It was held in Johnson v. Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District, 133 Neb. 97, 274 N. W. 386, that “When a defect of misjoinder of parties appears on the face of the petition, it must be raised by special demurrer.”

Roy F. Stuckey has been at all times president of the Dawson County Irrigation Company, and is also' a director in the Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation Disrict, and water which went down through the Strever creek was taken down the Batty lateral and sold to irrigators, and Hagadone complained to Mr. Stuckey in his bank of the damages being done by the overflow of Strever creek, and Mr. Nosky, the engineer of the irrigation district, came in and they all talked it over, and the facts are little in dispute.

In this case the amended petition set out separate causes of action, and asked damages in a very large sum because of the overflowing of Strever creek. Over 400 pages of [263]*263evidence and a large number of exhibits appear in the bill of exceptions.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
285 N.W. 600, 136 Neb. 258, 1939 Neb. LEXIS 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hagadone-v-dawson-county-irrigation-co-neb-1939.