Richland Parish Police Jury v. Debnam

968 So. 2d 294, 2007 WL 3010808
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 17, 2007
Docket42,421-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 968 So. 2d 294 (Richland Parish Police Jury v. Debnam) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richland Parish Police Jury v. Debnam, 968 So. 2d 294, 2007 WL 3010808 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

968 So.2d 294 (2007)

RICHLAND PARISH POLICE JURY, Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
L. Donald DEBNAM and Joyce Berry Debnam, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 42,421-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

October 17, 2007.
Rehearing Denied November 29, 2007.

*297 Frederic C. Amman, III, Monroe, for Appellants.

David P. Doughty, Rayville, for Appellee.

Before STEWART, CARAWAY and LOLLEY, JJ.

STEWART, J.

Donald and Joyce Debnam ("the Debnams") appeal the trial court's denial of their exception of no cause of action and exception of no right of action, reconventional demand, and the issuance of a permanent injunction against them prohibiting the construction of any obstructions hindering the servitude of the Richland Parish Police Jury ("Police Jury") over the Debnam property and allowing the Police Jury to enter the Debnam property and remove any constructions burdening their servitude. Because we find that the trial court erred in its determination that the Police Jury demonstrated the requisite damage to pursue this action, we reverse the decision of the trial court in part, affirm in part, and render judgment as outlined herein.

FACTS

The Debnams own 120 acres situated on the north side of Ruff Road in Richland Parish. Ruff Road runs east and west and forms the south boundary of the property. Cypress Creek runs in a generally north-south direction across their property. The Debnams constructed a dam, earthen works, and other structures on Cypress Creek adjacent to Ruff Road in an attempt to improve drainage on their property.

On the north of the Debnams' property, the Police Jury has a drainage project that connects Louisiana State Highway 183 on the east to Gum Bayou and Mercer Break on the west. This canal is designated as W-27 in the Richland Parish Drainage System. The canal carries water from east to west across the north portion of the Debnams' property. The Police Jury placed a low water crossing in the W-27 canal which allegedly caused water to flood the Debnam property. As a result, the Debnams placed weirs with eight inch pipes beneath the weirs to stop the flow of Cypress Creek and to stop erosion.

The Police Jury claims that a 300-acre tract of land laying north and south of Ruff Road, including the defendants' property, had been adversely affected by the *298 defendants' actions impeding the natural drain. Consequently, the Police Jury filed a petition claiming that it had a servitude of natural drain from Cypress Creek across the Debnams' property from south to north from Ruff Road to the W-27 canal and that these constructions created an obstruction for drainage for Ruff Road and its drainage ditch. The Police Jury also claims the status of a dominant estate owner due to its ownership of Ruff Road. The Police Jury further contended that the local farmers would suffer serious and immediate damage from the obstructions of the natural flow of Cypress Creek and requested a temporary restraining order.

The Debnams filed a reconventional demand claiming that Cypress Creek runs naturally from north to south across their property and that the Police Jury did not have a natural servitude of drain. Moreover, the Debnams asserted the Police Jury obstructed the flow of the W-27 canal at the end of Nicole Road and caused damage to their property. They also filed exceptions of no right of action and no cause of action.

Following a trial on the merits on September 25, 2006, the trial court determined that the Police Jury had a servitude of drain flowing from south to north across the Debnam property. The Police Jury was granted a permanent injunction prohibiting the construction of any impediments to its servitude of drainage and was granted permission to enter the Debnam property and remove any obstructions that had already been constructed at the Debnams' cost. This appeal ensued.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

An appellate court may not set aside a trial court's finding of fact in the absence of manifest error or unless it is clearly wrong, and where two permissible views of the evidence exist, the fact finder's choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Cole v. Department of Public Safety & Corrections, 2001-2123 (La.9/4/02), 825 So.2d 1134; Stobart v. State through Dept. of Transp. and Development, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993). Even though an appellate court may feel its own evaluations and inferences are more reasonable than the fact finder's, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review where conflict exists in the testimony. Cole, supra; Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La. 1989). To reverse a fact finder's determination, the appellate court must find from the record that a reasonable factual basis does not exist for the finding of the trial court and that the record establishes that the finding is clearly wrong. Stobart, supra.

We make several observations concerning the trial court's finding of facts regarding the flow of the water on the Debnams' tract of land and the 300-acre area of dispute. First, the trial court found that the natural flow of the water was from south to north. This finding, while not completely incorrect, is somewhat narrow in its focus in that the maps and the flood of 1927 referred to in the record demonstrate that all of the water along Cypress Creek flowed from north to south. In fact, it is the parish constructed ditch (W-27) that constitutes the north boundary of the Debnams' property and stops all water north of the ditch from flowing south from Cypress Creek and diverts it in a westerly flow across the property. This diversion of water by W-27 stops water from flowing south, and at some limited points causes water to flow northward. Nonetheless, the undisputed testimony reveals that the land south of *299 W-27 gets saturated when Cypress Creek gets full and the southward flow of the water across W-27 occurs. Moreover, the maps in the record indicate that the natural convergence of Cypress Creek and Gum Bayou is south near Fountenbury Road as evidenced by the southward flow of the tributary patterns. Consequently, while the trial court was technically correct in its determination that there are areas where the flow of water is from south to north, the gravamen of evidence demonstrates that across the 300 acre tract of land at issue, the natural flow of water is from north to south.

The second issue we note with respect to the trial court's ruling is its limited determination of the cause of impediments to the flow of water across the 300 acre tract of land. The Police Jury contends that the constructions on the Debnam property are the sole cause of the impediment to water flow on the land. It should be noted that the largest manmade impediment to the flow of water is not the dams constructed by the Debnams but Ruff Road which traverses the 300 acre tract in an east-west fashion. Over half of this tract of land lies south of Ruff Road. The Police Jury's expert, Mr. Tommy Burgess, testified that the southward flow of the water is also slowed by the two 36' culverts along Cypress Creek that slow and trap the flow of heavy rainwater. Mr. Burgess also cited the defendants' newly constructed railroad tie structure along the Ruff Road ditch as a contributing factor to the slowing of the flow of water. Lastly, Mr. Burgess cited the flawed topography of certain portions of the 300 acre tract that hinder the flow of water.

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968 So. 2d 294, 2007 WL 3010808, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richland-parish-police-jury-v-debnam-lactapp-2007.