Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1915-12-18
AFTER s YEARS DELAY
CASE REVERSED

HC case vi angus MCLSOu VI, M IL
Ter & Lux, Pacific Livestock Co., J.
B. Gallagher and Charles Snyder was
decided by the Supreme Court yes
terday. The judgment of the lower
court was reversed and the case re-
mandcd for, new trial in an .opinioa
written for the Court by Justice Cole
man and concurred in by Chief JUS
tice Norcross, Justice McCarran filing
dissenting opinion The case was a
suit for damages to the plaintiff 8
ranch in Lyon county, alleged to be
due to Spragg, Alcorn & Bewley dam
in Walker river owned by defendants
Upon trial in the court below which
lasted over fifty days, verdict was re-
turned in favor of the plaintiff for
damages in the sum of $25,000. The
case presented novel question and
one never before presented to court
in any state where irrigation prevails.
The highest point of overflow from
the river, which caused injury to the
plaintiff, was two miles above the dam
and all of the points of overflow were
above point on the river which
would be affected by back water from
the dam. Expert witnesses upon the
part of the defendants testified it was
impossible for the dam to have any
effect upon the current of the river
and thus cause deposit of sand in
the bed of the river above a point
where horizontal line drawn from
the crest of the dam would strike the
bed of the river and as the river had
fall of about one foot to every thou
sand, the dam could not have been the
cause of the injury. A number Of
farmers who had observed the river
many years testified that the dam was
the cause of the river filling up with
sand for more than two miles above
the dam. One of the principal ques
tions in the case was the alleged error
of the court below in permitting these
opinions of tn non-expert witnesses
lpon the ultimate fact in the case. The
court held it was error to permit such
testimony to be given. 1t was the
theory of plaintiff that a dam in the
river carrying sand and silt in suspen
sion would cause deposit of the same
throughout the district covered by
the back water. and that such deposit
had the effect of raising the bed of
the river, thus causing sand and silt
to be deposited for an indefinite dis
tance above the highest point of bach
water. Experts on hydraulics ex
Dressed the opinion that this would
not be the cause The question of hy-
iraulies presented is one which seien-
fists have never definitely determined
Hence the controversy. The jury
found that the Spragg, Alcorn & Bew
ley dam was the sole cause of the
filing of the river. 1t is held by the
prevailing opinion that number OF
other causes must have contributed to
the filling of the river even assuming
plaintiffs theory to have been correct
The other causes entioned in the
opinion were the Merritt dam located
about mile above the Spragg, Al
corn & Bewley dam. changes made in
IL, IL <f 81 kxt he nj int
if Mcleod and some five or so ditch
es taken out from the river immedi
ately on or above the plaintiffs ranch,
thus causing a reduction in the river
volume and consequent decrease
carrying capacity or sand and silt in
suspension.
The case was tried in the district
Court of Lyon county in 1909.