Case Title: Frank v. County of Mercer

Citation: 186 N.W.2d 439

Docket Number: 

State: north-dakota

Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Date: 1971-04-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
186 N.W.2d 439 (1971) Emil FRANK and Elizabeth Frank, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. COUNTY OF MERCER, North Dakota, a public corporation, State of North Dakota, acting by and through its North Dakota State Highway Department, Walter Hjelle, State Highway Commissioner, Defendants and Appellants. Civ. No. 8685. Supreme Court of North Dakota. April 22, 1971. Rehearing Denied May 13, 1971. *441 Helgi Johanneson, Atty. Gen., Bismarck; Vernon R. Pederson, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Bismarck; and J. C. Blaisdell, Mercer County State's Atty., Hazen, for defendants and appellants. James R. Jungroth, Jamestown, and Harvey J. Miller, Dickinson, for plaintiffs and respondents. PAULSON, Judge. This appeal is taken by the County of Mercer, North Dakota, a public corporation, and the State of North Dakota, acting by and through its North Dakota State Highway Department, Walter Hjelle, State Highway Commissioner [hereinafter State of North Dakota] from a judgment dated February 11, 1970, awarding Emil and Elizabeth Frank damages as the result of the flooding of the Frank farmstead on June 24, 1966. Trial de novo was demanded. The undisputed facts are that Emil Frank was and is the owner and he and his wife, Elizabeth Frank, were and are the occupants of a farm located about fifteen miles north of Glen Ullin, North Dakota, in section 32, township 142, range 88, in Mercer County. A public highway is located adjacent to the southern border of the Frank farm land and crosses Coyote Creek, which is a natural watercourse running from a southeasterly direction to a northwesterly direction on the west side of the Frank farm. Coyote Creek is the only outlet for the discharge of surface waters from the drainage basin which is located to the south of the Frank farm. The Frank farmstead buildings were situated on an elevation approximately four feet above the eastern bank of Coyote Creek. The above-mentioned highway and bridge were constructed by the State of North Dakota and Mercer County. The bridge and its embankment were constructed in 1963. On June 24, 1966, a rainstorm occurred in this part of North Dakota, including the area drained by Coyote Creek and its tributaries. The waters from this rainstorm subsequently flowed over the Frank farm and caused extensive damages to the farm home and outbuildings, as well as damaging various items of personal property owned by the Franks. As a result, an action for damages was brought against the State of North Dakota and the County of Mercer. The issues in the case at bar are: The relevant North Dakota constitutional provision and statutes are: *443 In defining an act of God as being an extraordinary or unprecedented act, this court held, in Soules v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 34 N.D. 7, 157 N.W. 823, 824 (1916), in paragraphs 6 and 7 of the syllabus: In Reichert v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 39 N.D. 114, 167 N.W. 127, 136 (1918), this court held: Whether a flood is extraordinary or unprecedented is a question of fact to be determined as any other question of fact and this is the burden of the party asserting. Ferderer v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 77 N.D. 169, 42 N.W.2d 216 (1950); Reichert v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., supra; Soules v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., supra. Witnesses who are residents of the watershed area above the Frank property testified to the intensity of the rainstorm on the day of the flood. Their testimony indicated that their rain gauges had registered from 3.50 inches to in excess of 6 inches of rainfall in an approximate 3-hour period. Six of these witnesses testified that they had rain gauges of from 4 to 6inch capacities and each of these gauges was overflowing after this rain. These residents who testified at the trial stated that they had never seen Coyote Creek flowing higher than it did following the rainstorm in question on June 24, 1966, and they had lived in the area for a maximum period of up to 60 years. The state climatologist, Ray Jensen, testified as an expert. Mr. Jensen's testimony included an analysis of the recorded chart which measured the intensity of the rainfall on the day of the flood. This chart was the record of an official weather station located in the watershed area of Coyote Creek. Mr. Jensen stated that the chart revealed that a light rain had begun to fall on June 24, 1966, at approximately 7:00 a. m. and had continued for about 2½ hours, with a gradual increase in the rainfall, and the rain then leveled off after about 1/3 of an inch had fallen. The rain stopped for about two hours, and at approximately 11:55 a. m. it started to rain very hard and the intense downpour continued for almost three hours. During this 3-hour period, the official rain gauge measured 6.75 inches of rainfall; from 11:55 a. m. until about 2:00 p. m. the gauge recorded approximately 5.85 inches of rainfall, according to Mr. Jensen's testimony. Mr. Jensen then testified as to the predictability of a storm of such intensity. Based *444 upon a technical report, Mr. Jensen testified that in this area one would expect a maximum rainfall of 3.15 inches within a 3-hour period to occur only once in a hundred years; and that the rainfall in question exceeded that figure by more than 3.50 inches. Mr. Jensen further testified: "It appears to be unprecedented and it is extraordinary. My series of records has shown nothing greater than what I have shown here". In testifying further, he stated: "I would never forecast, as a professional forecaster, I would never forecast that type of rain in a three-hour period because the odds of hitting a forecast like that are fantastic". The Franks have cited as being factually similar to the case at bar, the case of Soules v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., supra, wherein a rainfall which resulted in a flood in Dickinson in July of 1914 was held to be not so extraordinary as to warrant it being classified as an act of God, and the court held the Northern Pacific Railway Company liable for damages. In the Soules case, 4.03 inches of rain fell from 1:00 a. m. until 10:00 a. m. The facts were established in the Soules case that such rainfall was neither unprecedented nor extraordinary. The intensity and duration of the rainfall in the Soules case was vastly different than in the case at bar. Accordingly, the Soules case is factually distinguishable from the case at bar. Thus we hold that the rainfall in the instant case was so unprecedented and extraordinary as to be an act of God. The general rule on the liability of bridge and road builders is expressed in 93 C.J.S. Waters § 20, at pages 629-630: Having determined that the rainstorm in question was so unprecedented and extraordinary as to constitute an act of God, we will, for the sake of argument, consider the issue of whether or not the construction of the bridge and roadway was a proximate cause of the damage to the Frank farmstead. The State of North Dakota and the County of Mercer had the benefit of expert testimony on hydraulics *445 from LeRoy Sorenson, an engineer. Following the June 24, 1966, flood, Mr. Sorenson made a thorough hydraulic study of the area in question. He testified that the bridge opening permitted a maximum flow of 3000 cubic feet per second of water and when the flow exceeded that figure, the water would overtop the bridge roadway. Mr. Sorenson testified that a 3000 cubic-feet-per-second flow would be in excess of the 100-year flood frequency. He testified that even if the grade and bridge would not have been there, the quantity of water flowing down the drainage basin was so great that the water would have risen to a point at which it would flood the Frank farmstead notwithstanding the highway. In addition, Mr. Sorenson indicated that there was little velocity at the location of the Frank farmstead, nor would there have been a great deal of difference in the velocity, regardless of whether or not the highway and bridge were there. One of the bases for his reasoning was that the magnitude of the flow of Coyote Creek at flood stage is about 1200 cubic feet per second; the bridge was designed and constructed to discharge water at a rate of approximately 3000 cubic feet per second, which is almost twice the cubic-feet-per-second flow of flood waters anticipated during a 100-year flood frequency magnitude; and the crest of the flood in question had a magnitude of 9000 cubic feet per second. The Franks' expert witness, Harley Swenson, testified that he had not made an actual hydraulic study of the flood area, but he did make a professional assessment of it. Generally, his testimony revealed that it was his opinion that there was a possibility that the highway and bridge increased the velocity of the flow of the water as well as raising the elevation of the flood waters at the Frank farmstead. However, on cross-examination, Mr. Swenson said that he could not testify that the Frank farm would not have been flooded if no road or bridge had been built. Mr. Swenson testified further: Mr. Swenson further testified that he agreed with Mr. Sorenson's calculation that at a distance of approximately 60 feet below the bridge outlet, the velocity of the flow of water would have almost totally decreased to equal the stream flow. Thus, the Franks' own expert witness has conceded that there would have been no appreciable difference between the flood conditions at the Frank farmstead whether the highway and bridge had been there or not. In Hamilton v. City of Bismarck, 71 N.D. 321, 300 N.W. 631, 633-634 (1941), this court said: This court held, in Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. Morton County, 131 N.W.2d 557, (N.D.1964), in paragraph 10 of the syllabus: Further, this court, in Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. Morton County, supra 131 N.W.2d at 567, cited 4 Nichols on Eminent Domain § 14.24 and quoted from that text: It is apparent after reviewing the record de novo that the Franks have not satisfied the burden of establishing that the bridge and roadway were even one of the proximate causes of the flooding of their farm. The Frank farmstead would have been flooded notwithstanding the erection of the bridge and roadway in question and the flood was caused solely by an act of God. For the reasons stated in the opinion, the judgment of the district court is reversed. STRUTZ, C. J., and ERICKSTAD, TEIGEN and KNUDSON, JJ., concur.