Salt River Valley Water Users' Association v. Blake, Civil 4021

• Court: Supreme Court of Arizona
• Writing for the Court: LOCKWOOD, J.
• Citation: 90 P.2d 1004,53 Ariz. 498
• Parties: SALT RIVER VALLEY WATER USERS' ASSOCIATION, a Corporation, Appellant, v. RICHARD BLAKE, Appellee
• Docket Number: Civil 4021
• Decision Date: 29 May 1939

90 P.2d 1004

53 Ariz. 498

SALT RIVER VALLEY WATER USERS' ASSOCIATION, a Corporation, Appellant,
v.
RICHARD BLAKE, Appellee

Civil No. 4021

Supreme Court of Arizona

May 29, 1939

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of the County of Maricopa. E. G. Frazier, Judge. Judgment reversed.

Messrs. Sloan, Scott & Green, for Appellant.

Mr. L. C. McNabb and Mr. J. C. Wanslee, for Appellee.

OPINION [90 P.2d 1005]

[53 Ariz. 499] LOCKWOOD, J.

Richard Blake, hereinafter called plaintiff, brought this action against Salt River Valley Water Users' Association, a corporation, hereinafter called defendant, for damages caused through the alleged negligence of the latter. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $900 and after the usual motion for new trial was overruled, the matter was brought before us on appeal.

There are two questions involved, (a) was defendant's negligence the cause of the admitted injury to plaintiff's property, and (b) if it was, did the jury properly fix the amount of the damages. So far as the last question is concerned, while there is much conflict in the evidence, we think there is sufficient to sustain the verdict of the jury on this point. The real issue is whether the defendant's negligence caused the damage.

The facts as shown by the evidence are as follows: Plaintiff was in possession, under a lease, of forty acres of land, and on the 23d of March, 1937, there was growing thereupon a large and valuable crop of lettuce. [53 Ariz. 500] Immediately adjacent thereto was a certain ditch operated by defendant as a part of its irrigation system. This ditch had a normal carrying capacity of approximately two thousand miner's inches of water when running free. Just below plaintiff's land the county of Maricopa had recently installed a large culvert in the ditch, which was capable of passing four to five thousand miner's inches when unobstructed. At times the ditch had checks placed across it just below the culvert, for the purpose of irrigating a certain tract of land owned by one Williams, and at these times the carrying capacity of the culvert was reduced to about fifteen hundred miner's inches through the raising of the level of water in the ditch by the checks. The ditch had been carrying no water for several days before the 23d of March, because the culvert just referred to was being installed, but about 5 o'clock that evening the local zanjero turned into the ditch from the main canal eight hundred and seventy-five miner's inches of water, and the headgate was locked so that it would not permit more than this amount to come through from the canal during the night. He then followed down the ditch, turning the water out to various farmers in such quantity as they had required, and when he reached the culvert [90 P.2d 1006] found there was approximately three hundred and fifty miner's inches flowing at that point, and placed checks across the ditch to turn water to the Williams land. At that time there was no brush nor trash in the ditch, and the water was flowing through the culvert unobstructed except for the checks above referred to. At 10:30 that night he again inspected the water at the culvert, and found it free from any obstruction, and with the water flowing freely. About 3:30 in the morning...