Harp v. City of Baraboo
| Decision Date | 16 December 1898 |
| Citation | 77 N.W. 744,101 Wis. 368 |
| Parties | HARP v. CITY OF BARABOO. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from circuit court, Sauk county; R. G. Siebecker, Judge.
Action by George A. Harp against the city of Baraboo. From an order sustaining a demurrer to the complaint, complainant appeals. Affirmed.
Appeal from an order sustaining a demurrer to the complaint, in an action for damages against the city of Baraboo, alleging as material facts that the city, prior to the events complained of, had carelessly and negligently filled up Third street in said city, without making provision for the escape of surface water, which accumulated in, and naturally passed down, a certain ravine, crossing the line of said street, and extending in a southerly or southwesterly direction towards the Baraboo river; said filling constituting, in effect, a dam across said ravine, which detained and set back surface water naturally passing down said ravine, and causing the same to rise, set back, and overflow premises of the plaintiff, situated upon or near said ravine, and above (northward) said Third street, but not contiguous thereto; and that, in addition, said city had carelessly and negligently constructed ditches along streets to the north and west of said premises, by means of which large quantities of water, which would otherwise have passed off in other directions, were gathered up in a body, and conducted through said ditches into said ravine, and that by means of such ditches, and the said filling so constituting such dam as aforesaid, large quantities of water would be, and were, in times of rain, gathered together, and cast in a body upon such lot of said plaintiff; and that on the 18th day of March occurred a heavy, but not unusual, rainstorm, the waters whereof, by means of said ditches and said dam, were gathered together in a body much larger than could or would have been accumulated but for such ditches and dam as aforesaid, and cast upon plaintiff's said premises, submerging the same, and causing other damage. It is not charged that the injury was in any wise due to the alleged negligence in construction. Notice to the council, and refusal to make compensation, are alleged, and damages are prayed.G. Stevens and Herman Grotophorst, for appellant.
R. D. Evans, for respondent.
DODGE, J. (after stating the facts).
The stoppage of surface water by the grading up of a street is not an act upon which an action for damages against the city can be...
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...of Chippewa Falls, 52 Wis. 433, 9 N. W. 284; Heth v. City of Fond du Lac, supra; Waters v. Village of Bay View, supra; Harp v. City of Baraboo, 101 Wis. 368, 77 N. W. 744. A railroad corporation, in the construction of its roadbed upon its right of way, may divert, obstruct, or alter the fl......
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