Moyle v. Salt Lake City

167 P. 660, 50 Utah 357, 1917 Utah LEXIS 82
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 10, 1917
DocketNo. 2998
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 167 P. 660 (Moyle v. Salt Lake City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moyle v. Salt Lake City, 167 P. 660, 50 Utah 357, 1917 Utah LEXIS 82 (Utah 1917).

Opinion

FRICK, C. J.

The plaintiff commenced this action to require Salt Lake City to deliver to her certain water, to which, it is conceded, she is entitled under the contract hereinafter referred to, at a point other than where said water has been delivered by Salt Lake City since the year 1888, when the contract was entered into. The facts are not disputed. Those that are material, in substance, are:

That in June, 1888, Salt Lake City and certain farmers, who were the owners of primary water rights in what is known and called Parley’s Canyon creek, a stream having its source in the Wasatch Mountains lying east of Salt Lake City and flowing westerly through Salt Lake valley into the Jordan river, entered into an agreement in which the owners of said water agreed to exchange the water obtained by them from said Parley’s Canyon creek for water owned by Salt Lake City which it obtained from Utah Lake through the Jordan river, and through what is designated the Jordan & Salt Lake City Canal, which is owned by Salt Lake City. The exchange of the waters was made for the benefit of the inhabitants of Salt Lake City, in that the water from Parley’s Canyon creek is potable mountain water, while the water obtained by the city from Utah Lake is nonpotable, but is suitable to irrigate the lands and crops of the farmers with whom the exchange was made.

The court found, and the findings are not questioned, that the plaintiff in this action is the owner of “144.5/2027” of the waters exchanged as aforesaid, which is the equivalent of “144.79 acre shares of the water of Parley’s Canyon creek.” The water used by the plaintiff was, for many years, used by [359]*359ber within what is called the basin of Parley’s Canyon creek and on lands lying immediately southeast of Salt Lake City, which lands, in the last few years, have, however, become a part of Salt Lake City, and have thus ceased to be used for farming purposes, but are being used for residential purposes by some of the inhabitants of Salt Lake City. In view of the changed conditions, the plaintiff no longer uses, or can use, said water on lands lying within the basin of Parley’s Canyon creek. She, however, owns lands lying about five miles south of the lands on which she formerly used the water, and about five miles south of where the water has always been delivered to her, on which she can use all the water she is entitled to under said exchange agreement with Salt Lake City. Upon that subject the court found (which finding, to avoid repetition, we make a part of this statement) as follows:

‘ ‘ That plaintiff has no lands upon which said water can be beneficially used in or near the vicinity in which said water has been heretofore used, but the said water, of which said plaintiff is the owner, can be beneficially used upon her above-described lands, which.are situate about five miles south of said point of diversion, and which lie adjacent to and immediately below said canal, as aforesaid. That the said quantity of Avater, of which plaintiff is the owner and thus entitled to use, can be diverted upon plaintiff’s said lands out of said Salt Lake & Jordan Canal, through the weir aforesaid, without any damage whatsoever to said defendant city or to any person whomsoever, and does not impair any vested right of any person whomsoever, and said city will be saved the cost- of conveying said water a distance of about five miles.”

For the same reason we also insert here the material portions of the agreement entered into between the parties aforesaid:

“It is hereby agreed as follows: The parties of the first part, whose names are signed hereto, agree to exchange the waters of the Parley’s Canyon creek to which they are entitled for an equivalent quantity of water from the Jordan & Salt Lake City Canal, * “ * and to permit, allow, and authorize said party of the second part to take said waters of [360]*360the Parley’s Canyon creek at any point it may choose, and devote the same to the nse and-benefit of the inhabitants of Salt Lake City. * * * The second party agrees to maintain all existing rights of the parties of the first part to the waters of the said Parley’s Canyon creek, and to keep in repair the said Jordan & Salt Lake City Canal, and by its agent, jointly with the agent of the parties of the first part, and at the expense of the former, turn ont from the said canal the proper portion of the water due to the parties of the first part on the exchange as aforesaid, and also to construct the necessary ditch or ditches, headgates, and dams to take out the said waters of the said canal and Parley’s Canyon creek, and provide for rights of way for the same, all at its own cost and expense, and without cost or expense to the parties of the first part. * # * This agreement shall be perpetual, if the covenants and conditions herein expressed are kept and complied with.”

While nothing is contained in the agreement respecting the precise place where Salt Lake City was to deliver the plaintiff her share of the water, yet, as before stated, the water was delivered to her, ever since 1888, within the basin of Parley’s Canyon creek, and at a point about five miles north of where she now seeks to have the same delivered.

The only defense interposed by Salt Lake City is that the plaintiff is not entitled to have the water delivered at any other point or place than the one where she first elected to receive it from the city, and that permitting her to take the water at some other place or point is violative of the provisions of the contract, and amounts to an impairment, or, at least, a change, of the obligation assumed by the city in entering into the contract.

Upon substantially the foregoing facts the court found all the issues in favor of the plaintiff, and entered conclusions of law and a judgment or decree requiring the city to deliver plaintiff the amount of water she is entitled to under the contract from the said canal at the point selected and through the weir prepared by her, but without additional cost .or expense to the city.

[361]*361The city appeals, and the only propositions argued are the two we have stated above. True, counsel assign various reasons in their argument why plaintiff should fail, but the real reasons are those we have stated.

1, 2 "VYe fail to see how the judgment or decree in any way contravenes any of the stipulations contained in the city’s contract. There is nothing in the contract specifying any particular place where plaintiff’s share of .the water shall be delivered to her. True, by receiving the water at a particular place for many years past the plaintiff could not now successfully urge that the city had not fulfilled its part of the agreement. Apart from the fact, however, that the water has been delivered as before stated, there is absolutely nothing in the contract that binds the plaintiff to receive the water at any particular place or point. Nor is there anything in the contract that prevents her from having the water delivered to her at any other point, provided always that in doing that she in no way inconveniences the city, or increases its cost or expense of delivering the amount of water to her to which she is entitled under the agreement. It no doubt is true, as contended by the city’s counsel, that ordinarily, in case a place of delivery is fixed in the contract, the party agreeing to deliver cannot be required to deliver at any other place or point without disregarding the terms of the contract.

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Bluebook (online)
167 P. 660, 50 Utah 357, 1917 Utah LEXIS 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moyle-v-salt-lake-city-utah-1917.