Source: http://openjurist.org/590/f2d/263/taylor-v-united-states
Timestamp: 2016-10-28 18:43:06
Document Index: 445782419

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 702', '§ 1292', '§ 702', '§ 1346', '§ 1346', '§ 1346']

590 F2d 263 Taylor v. United States | OpenJurist
590 F. 2d 263 - Taylor v. United States HomeFederal Reporter, Second Series 590 F.2d.
590 F2d 263 Taylor v. United States 590 F.2d 263
Donald W. TAYLOR and Doris Taylor, Appellees,v.UNITED STATES of America, Appellant.
No. 78-1585.
Submitted Oct. 19, 1978.Decided Jan. 4, 1979.
This case comes before us on appeal from the trial court's1 denial of a motion for summary judgment made by the appellant-defendant United States Government. The issue presented is whether 33 U.S.C. § 702c2 provides immunity to the United States for the water damage that occurred to appellee-plaintiffs Donald and Doris Taylor's property in the summer of 1975. We hold the government immune from all claims alleged in the Taylors' first amended complaint3 and we reverse and remand this case to the district court with instructions to enter a summary judgment for the government pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.
The trial court then certified, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), the issue raised by the motion for summary judgment: "(w)hether or not 33 U.S.C. § 702c provides absolute immunity to the United States for damages tortious in nature caused to the Plaintiffs by actions of the Defendants," and this court granted leave to appeal. Fed.R.App.P. 5.
Interpreting the scope of immunity of section 702c is not a new task for this court. The Eighth Circuit has written the leading case in this regard, National Mfg. Co. v. United States, 210 F.2d 263 (8th Cir.), Cert. denied, 347 U.S. 967, 74 S.Ct. 778, 98 L.Ed. 1108 (1954), wherein we stated:
* * * (Section 702c) does not limit the bar against such recovery to cases where floods or flood waters are the sole cause of damages. It does bar liability of any kind from damages "by" floods or flood waters but it goes further and in addition it bars liability for damages that result (Even indirectly ) "from" floods. The use of the word "from" in addition to "by" makes it clear that the bar against federal liability for damages is made to apply wherever floods or flood waters have been substantial and material factors in destroying or damaging property. The language used shows Congressional anticipation that it will be claimed after the happening of floods that negligence of government employees was a proximate cause of damages where floods or flood waters have destroyed or damaged goods. But the section prohibits government liability of "any kind" and at "any place". So that uniformly and throughout the country at any place where there is damage "from" or "by" a flood or flood waters in spite of and notwithstanding federal flood control works no liability of any kind may attach to or rest upon the United States therefor.
National Mfg. Co. v. United States, supra, has frequently been cited as support for the broad-based immunity grant of section 702c.4 E. g., Callaway v. United States, 568 F.2d 684, 686 (10th Cir. 1978); Florida East Coast Ry. v. United States, 519 F.2d 1184, 1191-92 (5th Cir. 1975); Graci v. United States, 456 F.2d 20, 23-25 (5th Cir. 1971); Parks v. United States, 370 F.2d 92 (2d Cir. 1966); Ledford v. United States, 429 F.Supp. 204, 205 (W.D.Okl.1977).
For the purpose of summary judgment, we assume the Taylors' allegations to be true. Backwater is a body or accumulation of water resulting from an obstruction or opposing current. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co.1971). Floodwater has been defined as "(w)ater which has overflowed the natural banks of the stream in its natural channel, and which is contained by a system of levees;" flood has been defined as "water which inundates an area of the surface of the earth where it ordinarily would not be expected to be." Stover v. United States, 204 F.Supp. 477, 485 (N.D.Cal.1962), Affirmed, 332 F.2d 204 (9th Cir.), Cert. denied, 379 U.S. 922, 85 S.Ct. 276, 13 L.Ed.2d 335 (1964).
The Taylors do not deny that the rainstorm in June was severe5 and they do not deny that the Garrison Dam and the other connected dams were built, inter alia, for the purpose of flood control. See Callaway v. United States, supra, 568 F.2d at 687. We can see no rational distinction between floodwaters and backwaters that would lead to a different result in this case. The most favorable chain of events that we can presume is that the water already impounded in Lake Sakakawea was backwater. The rains of June were negligently impounded beyond the maximum operating level, which pushed the previously existing backwater onto the Taylors' property. To presume such a distinction is difficult enough, but it still does not escape the breadth of section 702c immunity. As we stated in National Mfg. Co. v. United States, supra, 210 F.2d at 271, section 702c "bars liability for damages that result (even indirectly) 'from' floods." Thus, even if it was backwater that damaged the Taylors' property, and even if section 702c would not cover "backwater" per se, the backwater was pushed onto the Taylors' property "in whole or in part from unusual or extraordinary climatic conditions." Stover v. United States, supra, 204 F.Supp. at 485.
On November 22, 1976, the Taylors filed suit against the United States Government, seeking recovery for both a taking, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(a)(2), 1402, and tort claim damages, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671 et seq. On February 22, 1977, the United States filed an answer to the Taylors' complaint. On March 2, 1977, the Taylors initiated discovery procedures by filing their first set of interrogatories. Then, on April 29, 1977, the United States filed a motion for summary judgment with supporting affidavit. There was no action by either of the parties or the district court until January 5, 1978, when the Taylors filed a motion to amend their complaint, brief and affidavit in support thereof, and a first amended complaint, which dismissed the taking claim under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(a)(2), 1402, See United States v. Cress, 243 U.S. 316, 37 S.Ct. 380, 61 L.Ed. 746 (1917), and restated the tort claim. The district court granted this motion and ordered the first amended complaint to be filed on February 13, 1978. The district court then considered the motion for summary judgment filed by the United States in response to the original complaint as being responsive to the first amended complaint. The district court denied the United States' motion for summary judgment on March 9, 1978, and entered an order on March 10, 1978. Consequently, on this appeal, we are concerned only with the issues raised in the first amended complaint
This court described the seasonal floods occurring along the Missouri River in Omaha Indian Tribe, Treaty of 1854 v. Wilson, 575 F.2d 620, 634-35 n.27 (8th Cir. 1978), Cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 99 S.Ct. 448, 58 L.Ed.2d 420 (1978):