John Cubbins v. Mississippi River Commission

• Decision Date: 05 June 1916
• Docket Number: No. 299,299
• Citation: 36 S.Ct. 671,241 U.S. 351,60 L.Ed. 1041
• Parties: JOHN F. CUBBINS, Appt., v. MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION and the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

241 U.S. 351

36 S.Ct. 671

60 L.Ed. 1041

JOHN F. CUBBINS, Appt.,

v MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION and the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board.

No. 299.

Argued April 24, 1916.

Decided June 5, 1916.

[Syllabus from pages 351-353 intentionally omitted] Mr. Barnette E. Moses for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 354-356 intentionally omitted] Mr. Gerald Fitz Gerald, Solicitor General Davis, and Mr. Robert Szold for appellees.

[Argument of Counsel from Page 357 intentionally omitted] Mr. Chief Justice White delivered the opinion of the court:

The conditions out of which this controversy arises are substantially the same as those which were relied upon in Jackson v. United States, 230 U. S. 1, 57 L. ed. 1363, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1011. We therefore here make a briefer statement of the topography of the country with which the case is concerned, and of the other general conditions involved, than we would do if such were not the case, since, if a fuller statement as to any particular aspect is desired, it can be readily found by a reference to the report of that case.

The complainant, as the owner of a piece of land on the east bank of the Mississippi river, adjacent to Memphis Tennessee, on his own behalf and on behalf of others owning similar land in the same locality, commenced this suit against the Mississippi River Commission and fifteen local state levee boards operating on the river between Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the mouth of the river at the Gulf of Mexico, three of these boards being organized under the laws of Missouri, four under the law of Arkansas, one under that of Tennessee, one under the law of Mississippi, and six under the law of Louisiana.

It was alleged that in flood seasons, when the water in the Mississippi river rose above its natural low-water banks, such water would flow out and over the vast basins in which the alluvial valley between Cape Girardeau and the Gulf formed itself, and would then, either by percolation gradually flow back into the river, or be carried over and through the basins by the streams flowing through them into the Gulf of Mexico, where such streams emptied. It was further alleged that the land of the complainant, when the river in the flood periods was thus permitted to discharge its waters, was so situated that it was beyond the reach of overflow from the river. It was then alleged that in 1883 the Mississippi River Commission, acting under the authority of Congress, had devised a plan known as the Eads Plan, by which it was contemplated that on both banks of the river, except at certain places, which were stated, a line of embankment or levees would be built which, in times of high water or flood, would hold the water relatively within the lines of the low-water banks, thus improving navigation by causing the water to deepen the bed, and saving the country behind the levees from inundation. It was averred that, to further this plan, the various state levee boards, which were made defendants, were organized, and that all of them, within the scope of their power and the limits of their financial ability, had aided in carrying on this work, and that, as the result of their work and of the levees built by the Mississippi River Commission, it had come to pass that from Cairo to the Gulf, a distance of about 1,050 miles, on both sides of the river, except at points which were stated, there was a continuous line of levee restraining the water from flowing out into the basins, as above stated, and which, in many instances, cut off the outlets connecting the streams which drained the basins and ultimately carried off the water to the Gulf. It was charged that this line of levees as a whole had been virtually adopted by the Mississippi River Commission, which body had assumed control of the whole subject, and that such body and all the state agencies co-operating were engaged in strengthening, elevating, reviewing, repairing, and increasing the lines of levee so as to more effectually accomplish the purpose in view.

It was charged 'that the effect of the closing by the defendants of the natural outlets along the said river, and the confining of the flood waters between the levee system as a whole, is to obstruct the natural high-water flow of the water of said river in and along its natural bed for its entire length, thereby raising the level of the water to such an extent that said flood waters, within the last five years, have attained a sufficient height to flow over complainant's land, and when there is now a high-water stage in said river, the waters of said river accumulate, flow over, and remain standing upon and over said lands of complainant to a depth of from 4 to 8 feet, so that complainant is now being interrupted in the profitable use, occupation, and enjoyment of his said land.' And it was further alleged that 'said land is being covered with superinduced additions of sand, silt, and gravel, now from 6 inches to 3 feet in depth; the houses and fences thereon are being washed away, rendering the said land and the houses thereon unfit for occupancy, driving away the tenants, doing irreparable harm and injury to said land, impairing its usefulness causing the practical destruction thereof, and destroying its market value.'

It was averred that to obstruct the river as alleged was a violation of the legal rights of the complainant, since he was entitled to the natural flow of the river within its natural high or low-water bed, free from interference by the acts of the defendants. Averring that no proceedings had been taken to expropriate the land, and that no offer to pay for the same had been made, and that the acts complained of constituted a taking without compensation, in violation of due process of law under the Constitution of the United States, and that there was no adequate remedy at law, the prayer was for an injunction against the Mississippi River Commission and all its officers, employees, agents, and contractors, wherever found, and against all the local levee boards and their officers, employees, agents, and contractors, perpetually prohibiting them from further building any levees, from enlarging, strengthening, repairing, or doing any act to maintain the levees already built, and for general relief.

The bill was amended by alleging that the overflow of complainant's land, as averred, instead of having happened within five years, had occurred within one year, and the original prayer was added to by asking that if it was found that the injunction prayed could not be granted, the case be transferred from the equity to the law side, and be converted into a law action to recover from the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board, the local Mississippi board which alone of the defendants had been served, the sum of $500,000 as the value of the plantation alleged to have been wrongfully taken.

A motion by that corporation was made to dismiss the bill on the ground that it stated no basis for relief, and in any event it alleged no ground for equitable jurisdiction, since at best, upon the theory that a cause of action was stated, there was plainly an adequate remedy at law. On the hearing the motion to dismiss was joined in by the Mississippi River Commission, and the case is here as the result of the action of the court below in dismissing the bill for want of equity.

At the threshold we put out of view as primarily negligible contentions as to whether, in any event, in view of the vast public interests which would have been detrimentally affected, the injunction prayed could have been granted, and whether the suit should not have been dismissed so far as the Mississippi River Commission was concerned, on the ground that it was really a suit against the United States without its consent, and not a mere action against individuals acting as officers, to prevent them from violating the rights of the complainant by taking his property without compensation. We say these contentions are negligible because underlying them all is the fundamental issue whether, under the averments of the bill, there was any right to relief whatever, and to that decisive question we come. Its solution involves deciding whether the complainant, as an owner of land fronting on the river, had a right to complain of the building of levees along the banks of the river for the purpose of containing the water in times of flood within the river, and preventing it from spreading out from the river into and over the alluvial valley through which the river flows to its destination in the Gulf, even although it resulted that the effect of thus keeping the water within the river was, by increasing its volume, to so raise its level as to cause it to overflow the complainant's land.

While we are of the opinion that in substance a negative answer to the proposition must follow from applying to this case the doctrines which were upheld in Jackson v. United States, 230 U. S. 1, 57 L. ed. 1363, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1011, and Hughes v. United States, 230 U. S. p. 24, 57 L. ed. 1374, 46 L.R.A.(N.S.) 624, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1019, as the unsoundness of the distinctions attempted in the argument to be drawn between those cases and this and the decisive application of those cases to this, will be more readily appreciated by a recurrence to the legal principles by which the...