Treichel v. Great Northern Railway Company
| Citation | 82 N.W. 1110,80 Minn. 96 |
| Decision Date | 31 May 1900 |
| Docket Number | 12,151 - (101) |
| Parties | CHRIST TREICHEL v. GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| Court | Supreme Court of Minnesota (US) |
Action in the district court for Norman county to recover $5,000 damages for injuries to crops caused by defendant's negligent maintenance of its railroad without sufficient culverts and by construction of the same so as to obstruct a natural water course, whereby water overflowed plaintiff's land. The case was tried before Watts, J and a jury, which rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $532.40. From an order denying a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, defendant appealed. Reversed.
Railway -- Obstructing Water Course.
In an action to recover damages for injury to crops alleged to have been caused by obstructing the natural capacity of a water course, evidence examined, and held, that the evidence does not support the verdict.
C Wellington, for appellant.
H. Steenerson, for respondent.
Plaintiff was the owner of the southeast 1/4 of section 32, township 146, range 46, in the Red River valley. Defendant's railway line crosses the southwest corner of this land, and runs in a northwesterly and southeasterly direction. The plaintiff's land and the country surrounding are comparatively level, falling gently to the northwest. There is a natural coulee, called "Spring Creek," which enters plaintiff's land near the southeast corner of the southeast 1/4, and runs in a northwesterly direction, crossing plaintiff's west line a short distance south of the northwest corner, and passing under the railroad a short distance west thereof. This coulee is well defined, some thirty feet in width at the top of its banks, and from three to four feet deep in the center. At the point where the coulee passes under the railroad is a bridge of the ordinary character in that country, provided with a water way. At a point on its railroad line five hundred feet south from the above-mentioned railroad bridge, defendant had formerly constructed and maintained a culvert ten by one feet in dimensions, but had for some reasons of its own filled it up in 1894. The place where this culvert was located was level; there being no water way or natural depression at that point, and no connection with the creek. The railroad bridge was built in 1872, at the time the road was constructed, and had been maintained in the same condition and size up to the time of the injury complained of. Defendant's road is graded up about one and one-half feet above the natural lay of the land through which it passes.
The complaint alleges that by the filling up of the old culvert in 1894, and by reason of constructing the culvert or opening in the railroad bridge over the coulee negligently, and of insufficient capacity, the natural flow of water through the same was obstructed, and caused to flow back upon plaintiff's premises, thus damaging his crops, in 1896 and 1897. The defense was that plaintiff's land and the surrounding country are practically level, with no well-defined drainage ways or depressions that serve to carry off the surface water, other than the certain creek mentioned; that defendant had always maintained a bridge with a water way sufficient to carry off all water flowing in the creek, except that which might come through unusual and extraordinary floods, and that the rains which accomplished the damages alleged were unusual and flooded the whole country; and that whatever damage plaintiff suffered was from no negligence of defendant, but was occasioned by the act of God. Plaintiff had a verdict in the court below, and defendant appeals to this court from an order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and from an order denying its motion for a new trial, and assigns as error that the verdict was not justified by the evidence.
Admitting that the law of the subject is somewhat unsettled, we shall not attempt any review of the numerous water-course and drainage decisions by this court. Respondent appears to have tried the case somewhat upon the theory that the defendant was required to maintain under its roadbed culverts sufficient to carry off the surface water, without reference to natural depressions or water ways. There is no evidence as to the number and capacity of other culverts north and south of plaintiff's land, and this issue was not presented in the pleadings, and plaintiff must be held strictly to the allegations in his complaint. Neither shall we attempt to define what is meant by the expression "act of God," as applied to the evidence. Whether the defendant should have anticipated unusual and heavy rains from time to time, and have prepared a proper culvert under this bridge, and other culverts in the vicinity, to carry off the surface water on such occasions, are questions not requiring solution here. The plaintiff has assumed the burden of proving that the damage he complains of was occasioned by two acts on part of defendant -- First, by filling up the old culvert; and, second, by constructing the bridge with less capacity than the capacity of the stream. Does the evidence reasonably tend to sustain this claim?
Taking the most favorable view of the evidence for plaintiff, it appears: That the whole country around plaintiff's locality is nearly level; falling to the northwest at the rate of about one foot to the half mile across plaintiff's land. That in the spring of 1896 and in July, 1897, there were heavy rains, covering nearly the whole of plaintiff's land with water, and standing up to the railroad ties on the east side of the track. At different points along the track from plaintiff's land, north, the water ran over the railroad. The farmer adjoining plaintiff on the west had no crop except on high points. The high water was not confined to the locality under consideration, but similar conditions existed for miles around. The only evidence tending to sustain plaintiff's claim is the testimony of plaintiff and his witnesses, to this effect: Plaintiff:
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