Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-10-20

any means to prevent it from sliding
down the hillside. On September 6,
1907, the city duly adopted and passed
an ordinance to improve Irving ave-
nue. but the ordinance did not provide
any plan for the improvement or any
part thereof other than it required
that portion of the avenue to be inn
proved by grading the same to it's full
width and to the established grade by
filling in earth in the fill to the full
width of the street to bring the same
to the established grade, and required
the work to be done in accordance
with the plans and specifications
heretofore made by the city surveyor
and mentioned above. The ordinance
further provided that the improvement
should be let to the lowest bidder as
by the law required and that the work
should be done under the supervision,
direction and control of said defend
ant and in accordance with the plans
and specifications made by the city
surveyor. The city subsequently en-
| tered into a contract with one w. A.
Goodin to make the improvements and
The terms of the contract required
Goodin to make said fill between
| Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets as
aforesaid but under the control and
direction of the defendant. On Oc-
tober 10, 1907, the contractor entered
upon and proceeded 10 make the i'm
| Drovement and in accordance there
with and under the. direction of the
defendant placed on top Of the soft
soil in the gulch, for the purpose of
permitting the water back and south
of the fill to discharge itself through
the fill and gulch, a small wooden
box or flume and a small thin sheet
iron pipe and then carelessly and neg
ligently placed on top of the soil.
without providing any foundation
therefor or either thereof, large
amount of dirt and earth all of which
was done in accordance with the
plans and specifications and under the
direction of the defendant. Immedi-
ately upon this dirt and earth being
placed on the soft soil and on top of
the box flume and iron pipe, the same
together with the earth and clay were
forced down into the soft soil and the
box flume and iron pipe became
wholly destroyed. of all of which the
defendant had full notice and knowl-
edge, but nevertheless continued I'M
der the protest and objection of the
plaintiff to place thereon additional
dirt, and thereupon the soft soil was
forced from beneath the fill and the
ground together with said fill moved
down upon the property of the plain
tiff doing great damage to him, of all
of which the defendant had full
knowledge and notice, but neverthe-
less the defendant thereafter and af-
ter the dirt which had been placed in
the fill had been forced down upon
the property, still continued to place
thereon additional dirt amounting to
many thousands of yards, whereby
the buildings of plaintiff were forced
from their foundations and smashed
and broken, and his real property was
covered by dirt and other debris to
the great damage and injury of the
plaintiff. In order to prevent the
total destruction of his buildings the
plaintiff was required to and did re-
move from said premises a large
quantity Of earth and other debris,
and was compelled to and did incur
large expense for the repairs of his
buildings. The court found that the
conduct of the defendant was negli-
gent and assessed damages for the
plaintiff in the sum of $4,000. After
wards, at the request of the defen-
dant, the court made additional find
! ings to the effect that the city sur
veyor mentioned was, at all times
stated in the complaint and long prior
thereto had been, a competent and
skillful engineer with many years ex-
perience in devising plans for Inn
provements for municipal purposes
and that the plaintiffs property, de-
scribed in his complaint herein, at no