Raide v. Dollar

203 P. 469, 34 Idaho 682, 1921 Ida. LEXIS 160
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 28, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 203 P. 469 (Raide v. Dollar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Raide v. Dollar, 203 P. 469, 34 Idaho 682, 1921 Ida. LEXIS 160 (Idaho 1921).

Opinion

BUDGE, J.

In respondent’s complaint there are two causes of action alleged. In the second cause of action respondent sought to recover damages sustained by reason of the destruction of his dwelling-house and personal property situated therein and permanent injury to the land described in the first cause of action. The injuries complained of and sustained by respondent in his second cause of action were found upon the trial by the court to have been due to the act of God, and not to negligence or fault upon the part of appellant, but to an extraordinary flood which occurred on or about the thirtieth day of December, 1917, in the north fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, adjacent to which stream respondent’s land is situated, the waters having suddenly risen to an unprecedented height, causing logs belonging to appellant in large numbers which were upon rollways along the bank of the river to be precipitated into the stream and carried down with large quantities of other logs belonging to other parties, as well as stumps and debris, on to the lands of the respondent.

[685]*685In his first cause of action respondent alleged, inter alia, that about four and a half months after said logs had been permitted to lodge and jam upon and against his said lands and premises, appellant negligently and wrongfully and without the consent of and contrary to respondent’s wishes, with force and violence entered upon respondent’s lands and premises and particularly upon his meadow, with teams of horses, logging trucks and devices, and proceeded to remove the logs of appellant from the premises, and in so doing cut up and injured his meadow lands, causing numerous and divers roads and roadways to be made, on, over and across the same, to his damage in the sum of $500, and negligently and wilfully cut down and destroyed two apple trees of the value of $25 each, whereby respondent was further damaged in the sum of $50.

Appellant entered a general and special denial to the foregoing allegations contained in respondent’s first cause of action.

Judgment was entered upon the verdict of the jury in favor of the respondent, assessing his damages in the sum of $500, from which judgment and an order denying a motion for a new trial, this appeal is prosecuted.

Appellant assigns as error the insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict or judgment; the action of the court in giving and in refusing to give certain instructions; that the verdict is excessive and was rendered under the influence of passion and prejudice; and that the court erred in overruling defendant’s motion for a new trial.

The latter error assigned is not discussed in appellant’s brief, and will not be considered upon this appeal.

In order to pass upon the question of the sufficiency of the evidence, it becomes necessary to review briefly some of the testimony offered during the trial. It is admitted that respondent was the owner in fee, in the possession and entitled to the possession of the premises described in his complaint. It was also established beyond dispute that appellant went upon the premises and particularly the meadow [686]*686land of respondent and removed therefrom by the nse of teams, trucks and other devices, a large number of logs that had been deposited upon the meadow lands as a result of the flood, and that the same were dragged for some distance over the meadow lands to the bank of the river and dumped into the stream for the purpose of being floated down to the mills. It is insisted by appellant that there is no competent evidence to support the verdict or judgment, and that no injury was done to the meadow lands by reason of the removal of the logs.

Eespondent testified that in moving the logs, ditches were plowed into the meadow. Witness Neurmi for respondent testified that some of these ditches were over a foot deep. Witness Wilson corroborated the testimony of respondent and the former witness as to the condition in which the meadow was left after the logs had been dragged over and across it.

The witness Neurmi testified that he saw the meadow before and after the logs had been pulled off it. He further testified that he had known the meadow since 1916, that he had lived in that locality, that he owned land adjoining, that he had experience in farming, that he knew the character and kind of land owned by the respondent. Thereupon the following question was propounded to the witness, to which counsel for appellant objected upon the ground and for the reason that the witness had not shown himself qualified to answer the question: “Do you know what the reasonable cost would be of putting that land in the same condition as it was before any of those logs were hauled away on account of the scratching and the roadways you have testified to?” to which question the witness made answer that he knew, and was thereupon asked, “How much would be a reasonable cost for putting the land in the same condition as it was before any of the logs were hauled away?” His answer was, “Between five and six hundred dollars anyhow.”

[687]*687The witness Wilson testified that he had lived on the north fork of the Coeur d’Alene River for twelve years; that he had worked in the woods and had farmed; that he helped to remove the logs from respondent’s place; that it took three or four days with about seven men and three teams of horses; that after removing the logs the land looked very bad on account of the logs plowing up the meadow; that some of the places made by the logs were a foot deep. Thereupon counsel for respondent asked the witness the following question: “Do you know what the reasonable cost would be for filling up these ditches and roads caused by the dragging of those logs, and putting the land in the same condition it was before the logs were dragged off of it?” to which he made answer that he did, and he was thereupon asked how much, whereupon counsel for appellant objected to the witness answering the question upon the ground that he had not shown himself qualified. The objection was overruled, and the witness answered that it would cost never under five or six hundred dollars.

The court did not err in overruling the objections and permitting the witnesses to answer. Their testimony disclosed the nature and extent of the injury done to the meadow by removing the logs. It was for the jury to fix the damages. The fact that the witnesses testified as to what in their opinion it would cost to place the land back in the same condition that it was before the logs were dragged over the meadow was not prejudicial to appellant, in view of the fact that the witnesses had testified to the actual conditions in which the meadow was left as a result of the dragging of the logs over it.

In actions of this nature the principle of actual compensation governs and the damages awarded must be confined to the actual damages sustained. We think the damages proven in this ease were supported by sufficient competent evidence to support the verdict. The meadow was not permanently injured as a result of dragging the logs over it, but it was a temporary injury and the owner would be en[688]*688titled to recover the amount necessary to repair the injury and put the land in the condition it was in at the time immediately preceding the injury. Whether it was necessary to replow and resow the meadow, or to fill in the ditches made as a result of dragging the logs through the meadow, was for the jury to determine.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
203 P. 469, 34 Idaho 682, 1921 Ida. LEXIS 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/raide-v-dollar-idaho-1921.