Opinion ID: 900296
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Balancing Hardship and Benefit

Text: ¶ The Knodels assert the benefit they will enjoy by being able to farm all their tillable land outweighs the hardship that may be suffered by the Township. Their argument overlooks the rights of the dominant landowner, Mettler, who is not party to this action. Easements, including an upper owner's drainage rights, are property within the purview of the constitutional provision that no persons shall be deprived of their property without due process. Thompson, 39 S.D. at 486, 165 N.W. at 12; United States Constitution, Amendment V; South Dakota Constitution, art. VI, § 13. Furthermore, the Township has a statutory duty to repair the culvert and to maintain the road, flooded and damaged because of the plugged culvert. See SDCL 31-13-1: The board of township supervisors shall construct, repair, and maintain all of the secondary roads within the township. Failure to perform statutory road maintenance duties may even, in certain circumstances, subject townships to liability. See Fritz v. Howard Tp., 1997 SD 122, 570 N.W.2d 240; Rodgers v. Shaler Tp., 164 Pa.Super. 558, 67 A.2d 806, 807 (1949). In this context, we believe a balancing of the equities is unwarranted because the benefit the Knodels seek deprives another landowner of a superior right and subverts a township's statutory duties.