Brizendine v. Nampa Meridian Irrigation Dist., 11742
| Decision Date | 26 March 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 11742,11742 |
| Citation | 548 P.2d 80,97 Idaho 580 |
| Parties | , 91 A.L.R.3d 170 James E. and Martha BRIZENDINE, husband and wife, et al., Plaintiffs-Respondents and Cross-Appellants, v. NAMPA MERIDIAN IRRIGATION DISTRICT, Defendant-Appellant and Cross-Respondent. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Craig L. Meadows and Gary Dean Babbitt, of Hawley, Troxell, Ennis & Hawley, William F. Ringert, of Anderson, Kaufman, Anderson & Ringert, Boise, for appellant.
John A. Rosholt, of Parry, Robertson, Daly & Larson, Twin Falls, amicus curiae.
Peter E. Heiser, Jr., of Kidwell & Heiser, Boise, for appellee.
James E. and Martha Brizendine and thirty-seven other parties (hereinafter plaintiffs) instituted this action against the Nampa-Meridian Irrigation District (hereinafter irrigation district), seeking damages for injury to property when the district's irrigation canal bank broke flooding properties of the plaintiffs. After a court trial, the district court held the irrigation district liable in tort for its negligence. Subsequent to the trial, the irrigation district moved to dismiss the plaintiffs' claims for general damages and attorneys' fees on the grounds that the claims failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The district court denied the motion except as to the claim of James E. Baldwin; it found that Baldwin had not complied with the notice provision of the Idaho Tort Claims Act (I.C. § 6-905) and dismissed Baldwin's claim. The irrigation district appealed and the plaintiffs cross appealed. We affirm as to the finding of liability of the irrigation district and reverse as to the dismissal of Baldwin's claim.
The Nampa-Meridian Irrigation District, organized under Title 43 of the Idaho Code, owns and maintains the Ridenbaugh Canal to convey irrigation water from the Boise River to farmlands in Ada and Canyon counties. Water in the canal flows generally east to west. The canal was constructed some time prior to 1890 as a deed conveying the canal was dated September 9, 1890.
On May 26, 1973, at a point near the Gekeler Lane bridge in the vicinity of southeast Boise, a portion of the north canal bank broke, allowing the impounded water to flow upon the plaintiffs' properties. At the location of the break, the canal was constructed with a raised embankment; that is, the canal banks and the water level are higher than the surrounding land. According to scale drawing of the canal introduced into evidence, the canal is approximately fifty-four feet wide with a depth of nine feet at the point of the break. On the north bank, the surrounding land is approximately seven feet below the top of the bank and on the south bank the surrounding land is approximately eight feet below the top of the bank. On the day of the break, the canal carried 27,500 miner's inches of water which was its usual capacity; at this flow, the water level of the canal is about eight inches below the top of the canal bank at the point where the district's superintendent usually observed the flow.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that the break had been caused by the irrigation district's negligence and sought general and special damages and attorneys' fees. The irrigation district answered generally denying the allegations of the complaint. The parties stipulated to a bifurcated trial on the issues of liability and damages. The district court found the irrigation district liable after a court trial on the issue of liability. The court found that '(t)he exact reason for a break in the canal is not known and cannot be determined since evidence of the causative factors was destroyed by the break itself'. The court ruled that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur was applicable and that the irrigation district was negligent in failing to properly maintain the canal. It also ruled that the defendant was not liable under a theory of absolute liability (Rylands v. Fletcher, L.R. 3 H.L. 330 (1868)) or strict liability in tort (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A).
Both parties have appealed. We will first consider the issues raised by the irrigation district's appeal. The irrigation district maintains that the district court erred by applying the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to the case at bar and by ruling that the irrigation district was negligent by failing to properly maintain the canal.
I.C. § 42-1204 provides as follows:
'Prevention of damage to others.-The owners or constructors of ditches, canals, works or other aqueducts, and their successors in interest, using and employing the same to convey the waters of any stream or spring, whether the said ditches, canals, works or aqueducts be upon the lands owned or claimed by them, or upon other lands, must carefully keep and maintain the same, and the embankments, flumes or other conduits, by which such waters are or may be conducted in good repair and condition, so as not to damage or in any way injure the property or premises of others.' (Emphasis added.)
The foregoing section has been construed to the effect that an irrigation district, as owner of a canal, would be liable for any damage caused by its negligence in the maintenance of the canal. Smith v. Big Lost River Irrig. Dist., 83 Idaho 374, 364 P.2d 146 (1961). No issue is before this court concerning the item of damages occasioned by the canal break, and the district does not argue that the plaintiffs' alleged damages were not causally related to its alleged acts or omissions; thus, the sole issue before this court on the dictrict's appeal concerns the district's liability in negligence.
The elements of a cause of action based upon negligence can be summarized as (1) a duty, recognized by law, requiring a defendant to conform to a certain standard of conduct; (2) a breach of that duty; (3) a causal connection between the defendant's conduct and the resulting injuries; and (4) actual loss or damage. Prosser, 'Law of Torts' § 30 (4th ed. 1971). In its holding, the trial court reasoned that there was an inference of negligence created under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur sufficient to establish liability to the district on the basis of negligence. Res ipsa loquitur, if the doctrine is applicable to the facts of a particular case, creates an inference of a breach of a duty by a defendant.
'Res ipsa loquitur leads only to the conclusion that the defendant has not exercised reasonable care, and is not in itself any proof that he was under a duty to do so.' Prosser, Law of Torts, § 39, p. 226 (4th ed. 1971).
See Harper v. Hoffman, 95 Idaho 933, 523 P.2d 536 (1974).
Res ipsa loquitur replaces direct evidence of negligence with a permissive inference of negligence.
".* * * The burdens of proof of the parties remain the same-the plaintiff, with the aid of the inference, must prove his case by a preponderance of the evidence; if the plaintiff presents sufficient evidence to get to the jury, the defendant is obligated to produce evidence to explain or rebut plaintiff's prima facie case. If he fails to do so, he will in most instances suffer a verdict against him. In all cases, however, the preponderance of the plaintiff's evidence is a question for the trier of facts.' (Citations omitted).' Harper v. Hoffman, 95 Idaho 933, 934-35, 523 P.2d 536, 537-38 (1974), quoting Skaggs Drug Centers Inc v. City of Idaho Falls, 90 Idaho 1, 8, 407 P.2d 695, 698 (1965).
The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is applicable when two elements co-exist: (1) the agency or instrumentality causing the injury was under the exclusive control and management of the defendant; and (2) the circumstances were such that common knowledge and experience would justify the inference that the accident would not have ordinarily happened in the absence of negligence. Harper v. Hoffman, supra. The district court, in its conclusions of law, found that '(t)he agency or instrumentality causing the injury was under the exclusive control and management' of the irrigation district. The irrigation district has not assigned as error this conclusion. However, the irrigation district vigorously argues that this canal break is such an accident which may have occurred in the absence of negligence.
Application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to a cause of action arising from a canal break is a question of first impression for this jurisdiction. However, this court has considered the question of an irrigation district's liability in negligence for seepage, overflow, or the breakage of a canal bank on several occasions and a review of the leading cases is appropriate. In Harris v. Preston-Whitney Irrig. Co., 92 Idaho 398, 443 P.2d 482 (1968), this court upheld the findings of the district court that the defendant irrigation company had negligently failed to 'chain clean' and impact its canal banks and that, as a result water seeped through the canal bank, flooding the plaintiffs' basement. This court affirmed an award of damages for injury to property arising from an overflow of water from the defendant irrigation district's lateral ditch in Casey v. Nampa and Meridian Irrig. Dist., 85 Idaho 299, 379 P.2d 409 (1963). Therein, this court found that 'the record discloses ample evidence from which the jury could have found negligence on the part of the defendant district in allowing moss to accumulate and failing to maintain the banks causing the canal to overflow'. 85 Idaho 302, 379 P.2d 410.
In Johnson v. Burley Irrig. Dist., 78 Idaho 392, 304 P.2d 912 (1956), this court affirmed a jury verdict finding the defendant irrigation district liable in negligence for flooding caused by a break in a lateral ditch:
'The foregoing facts, though disputed in some instances, justified a finding by the jury either, that the water in some considerable quantity, more than the lateral could carry safely, was emptied into the lateral * * * which caused the banks of the lateral to overflow and break; or, that seepage through a...
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