Driesbach v. Lynch
| Decision Date | 26 July 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 7705,7705 |
| Citation | 71 Idaho 501,234 P.2d 446 |
| Parties | DRIESBACH et al. v. LYNCH et al. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Harold S. Purdy, Coeur d'Alene, J. Orville Humphries, Spokane, Wash., Wm. S. Hawkins, E. L. Miller, Coeur d'Alene, for appellants.
Whitla & Knudson, Coeur d'Alene, for respondents.
The plaintiffs, respondents herein, and the defendants, appellants herein, are the owners of adjoining properties fronting upon Lake Pend Oreille. The plaintiffs instituted an action against the defendants to restrain and enjoin defendants from interfering with the plaintiffs' right of possession and use of plaintiffs' property. The south line of plaintiffs' property as set forth in the description of the deed runs in an easterly-westerly direction approximately 286 feet, and intersects the shore line of the Lake at an acute angle. The property of the defendants adjoins plaintiffs' property on the south commencing at a point 198 feet east of the southwest corner of plaintiffs' property and continues easterly to Lake Pend Oreille. The shore line of the Lake runs in a northeasterly and south-westerly direction.
The plaintiffs have been the owners of their parcel of land since 1941 and have, during such ownership, maintained and operated a dock for pedestrian travel to and from boats and boathouses moored to their dock, which extends easterly into the Lake at right angles to the shore line.
The defendants' lands are likewise used commercially for the purpose of exploiting the fishing of the waters of the Lake. In 1948 the defendants erected along the boundary line between the respective properties six large wooden posts spaced approximately 13 feet apart and later, following the recession of the waters of the Lake, defendants extended the row of posts easterly by putting in some 10 additional railroad rails, thereby extending the row of posts so that the most easterly post was on the north side of plaintiffs' dock; defendants claim littoral rights south of the extended line of the row of posts, thereby compelling the plaintiffs to construct their approach on the north side of the easterly post in order to get to plaintiffs' dock.
The defendants' dock is located at and runs parallel with the south boundary line of defendants' property.
The plaintiffs contend that they are entitled to littoral rights and that the defendants have interfered with those rights by extending their posts out into the Lake on a line parallel with the south boundary line of their property, thereby encroaching upon the littoral rights of plaintiffs; on the other hand, the defendants contend that the plaintiffs have encroached upon defendants' littoral rights by extending their line perpendicular or at right angles with the shore line; the defendants of course contend that the lands of the plaintiffs do not have actual contact with the water and for that reason plaintiffs are not entitled to any littoral rights.
The principal issues presented for consideration in this case are the determination of the natural or ordinary high water mark of Lake Pend Oreille upon the properties of the respective parties and if from such determination plaintiffs are littoral owners, then it becomes necessary to determine the direction in which the boundary line dividing the properties of the parties should be extended so that the respective parties may know the boundaries of and exercise and enjoy their littoral rights.
The court below found that the natural or ordinary high water mark on the plaintiffs' parcel was 15 feet westerly of and parallel with the east line of the plaintiffs' property as described in the deed; this would give plaintiffs actual contact with the waters of the Lake; the court also found that the southerly boundary of the littoral rights of the plaintiffs was determined by extending a line into the waters of the Lake at right angles to the high water line commencing at a point where the high water line intersects the south boundary of the plaintiffs' property; the court decreed that the defendants must remove twelve posts which were, as the court found, placed upon the area below the high water line and within the area of the plaintiffs' littoral boundaries, thereby constituting a barrier and an obstruction to the enjoyment of plaintiffs' littoral rights. Based upon these findings the court accordingly entered decree for the plaintiffs, and from such decree the defendants have appealed.
Defendants contend that the court erred in finding that the waters of Lake Pend Oreille constitute the east boundary of the property of the plaintiffs and that the general course of the shore line in front of plaintiffs' property is parallel with the easterly end line of plaintiffs' property and that the plaintiffs are entitled to littoral rights incident and appurtenant to such property and that the dock of plaintiffs is located directly in front of the property of plaintiffs and within the area of plaintiffs' littoral boundaries, and in further finding that the ordinary or natural high water line of Lake Pend Oreille where it bounds the property of plaintiffs is 15 feet westerly and parallel to the easterly end line of the property of plaintiffs as described in plaintiffs' deed.
It is the settled law in this State, and the parties to this appeal concede, that the State owns the title to the beds of navigable lakes and streams below the natural or ordinary high water mark. Gasman v. Wilcox, 54 Idaho 700, 35 P.2d 265; Raide v. Dollar, 34 Idaho 682, 203 P. 469; Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. Hirzel, 29 Idaho 438, 161 P. 854; Callahan v. Price, 26 Idaho 745, 146 P. 732; 56 Am.Jur. Sec. 453, p. 865.
The natural ordinary high water mark is that line which the water impresses on the soil by covering it for sufficient periods to deprive the soil of its vegetation and destroys its value for agricultural purposes. Payette Lakes Protective Ass'n v. Lake Reservoir Co., 68 Idaho 111, 189 P.2d 1009; Raide v. Dollar, supra.
The appellants urge that the findings of fact and the judgment entered by the trial court with reference to the location of the 'high water line' across the properties of the respective parties is without support in the evidence. The evidence is voluminous, both documentary and oral, with reference to the presence or absence of vegetation upon the parcels of lands of the respective parties and the presence or absence of any line indicating the ordinary or natural high water line upon such properties; there is an abundance of evidence to the effect that the recurrent overflow of the waters of the lake had deprived the lands lying eastward from a line 15 feet westerly of and parallel with the east line of the plaintiffs' property of vegetation and had destroyed its value for agricultural purposes; on the other hand, there was direct and positive conflicting evidence to the effect that there was grass and other vegetation growing upon the lands in front of the plaintiffs' property and extending westward to the line 15 feet westerly of and parallel with the east line of the plaintiffs' property; there was also evidence to the effect that the natural or ordinary high water mark of the Lake over the course of many years was at a point so established and found by the court. On the other hand, there was evidence to the effect that such high water mark was eastward from the easterly boundary line of the plaintiffs' property as described in their deed; the evidence on both points was irreconcilably conflicting.
The evidence discloses that the findings made by the court, the trier of the facts, both with reference to the point of the natural or ordinary high water line and with reference to the absence of vegetation growing upon each parcel of land below the line found as the natural or ordinary high water line, is based upon and supported by substantial, competent, although conflicting evidence. This court has uniformly held that findings made by the trier of the facts, supported by substantial, competent, although conflicting, evidence, will not be disturbed on appeal. Sec. 13-219, idaho Code; Yearsley v. City of Pocatello, 71 Idaho 347, 231 P.2d 743; Holland v. Beames, 71 Idaho 343, 231 P.2d 741; Lanning v. Sprague, 71 Idaho 138, 227 P.2d 347; Hancock v. Halliday, 70 Idaho 446, 220 P.2d 384; Nelson v. Hoff, 70 Idaho 354, 218 P.2d 345.
The appellants contend that the court erred in refusing to admit defendants' Exhibit No....
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...equitable cause of action. Idaho courts have in the past awarded punitive damages in actions for equitable relief. In Driesbach v. Lynch, 71 Idaho 501, 234 P.2d 446 (1951), a plaintiff instituted an action for an injunction, compensatory damages, and punitive damages. The court first determ......
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...to the bed of a navigable river or stream between the natural or ordinary high water marks is held by the state. Driesbach v. Lynch, 71 Idaho 501, 234 P.2d 446 (1951); Gasman v. Wilcox, 54 Idaho 700, 35 P.2d 265 (1934); Raide v. Dollar, 34 Idaho 682, 203 P. 469 (1921); Northern Pacific Ry. ......
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