The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1921-07-14
IN CIRCUIT COURT

The case of Rappel company against
the city of Mantowoc began in circuit
court the morning of Saturday, June
Is and the jury brought in "A verdict at
O'Clock in the evening of July s, vir-
tually completing three weeks of trial.
The actual taking of testimony occu-
pied fourteen days,
The Rappel company sued the city
for damages which it alleged was caus-
ed to a stock of wholesale groceries,
and to the building in which the stock
was stored at the corner of Franklin
and Fifteenth streets, by reason of the
flooding of the basement during a rain
storm in March, 1920. Sherman creek
flows through a culvert in a corner of
the basement and the water came from
there, bursting out of the culyert and
up through the concrete basement floor
The plaintiff claimed that the burst
ing Was caused by a blockade in the
city's creek culvert at Fifteenth street
adjacent to and down stream from the
warehouse where the city maintains an
iron sewer pipe across and through its
own creek culvert at right angles. The
plaintiff alleged that this cross pipe in
the creek caught, held and formed a
blockade of great mass of floating
debris.
The city's main defense on the facts
was that the Rappel company had
very defective culvert on its premises
through which the creek flows through
the building and that this defective
condition was the cause of the damage.
A puzzling mystery arose over the
time of the making of hole in the
floor Of Rappels culyert. The plaintiff
claimed to have known Of it since May,
1920, shortly after the food, asserting
that it was made by the force of the
arrested water, whereas two city EN-
ployes testified that they made the hole
with brick on June 81, 1921, while
the trial was in progress.
All Of last Thursday was taken up
with the summing up to the jury. After
instructions Friday morning it went to
the jury about l1.30 O'clock. In the
evening the jury came in with the yer-
dict of twenty questions answered in
favor of the Rappel company on every
point The damages, which the plaintiff
had asked be fixed at about Sl2,5O0,
were assessed at Sll,5o0, largely due to
fixing damage 10 the building lower
than was demanded.
In dischargng the jury the court
gave them a talk of five or ten minutes
and those who heard it regret that it
was not preserved verbatim. He
thanked them for their attention and
apprehension during three weeks of
record-breaking spell of torrid weather,
and said that he had become so accus-
toned to seeing them in the box that
he feared he would be lonely the next
week
The case was notable for features of
both law and fact. The court ruled
that the city by discharging its drain
age sewers into Sherman creek has
adopted it as a part of its sewer sys-
tenn and by this adoption became
charged thereby not only with the duty
of keeping its own culyerted portions
in good condition, but with the duty of
keeping debris and rubbish that might
blockade the creek from accumulating
along the bed or banks of the open por-
tions. This, and other legal questions,
win doubtless be passed on hy the SUI
preme court The case was tried for
the plaintiff by j. j, Healy, Harry kel-
ley and A. J. Wyseman and for the de
fendant by City Attorney Clarence
Teitgen, who labored under the handi-
cap of having recently come into Office
after his predecessor had done all the
briefng and preparing for trial.
The court on Monday afternoon this
week took up the court calendar, nav
ing continued over to the winter term
the remaining jury cases.
Gretchen Luehr was granted a de-
cree from Robert Luehr. They were
married at Waukegan four months ago
and lived together one day. No fnan-
cial aid was asked.
David Gauther was given a divorce
from his wife, Dorothy, ON the usual
grounds of cruel and inhuman treat
ment.
Caroline Beebe was legally separated
from her husband, Roy, for the same
reason,