Opinion ID: 1806480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Did the Defendants Have a Duty to Warn Persons Downstream?

Text: The defendants claim that they had no duty to warn persons downstream prior to breaking the beaver dam and that even if a duty was owed, it would be only to persons within the immediate vicinity of the beaver dam. We find no Alabama cases guiding us as to the duty owed under these specific facts. Generally, however, the defendants here owed the plaintiff the duty to not change the course of nature so as to interfere with the enjoyment of the subservient premises. See Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. Webb, 184 Ala. 452, 455, 63 So. 518, 519 (1913). In that case, a landowner who had created a pond by changing the natural flow of water was liable for damage to the land of the lower owner when the dam broke. Further, we find that the liability of a defendant for depositing or placing foreign substances upon the lands of the plaintiff has been stated in Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. McCullough, 177 Ala. 448, 456, 59 So. 210, 213 (1912) (quoting Alabama Western R.R. v. Wilson, 1 Ala. App. 306, 55 So. 932 (1911)): `One may not, either voluntarily or negligently, cast earth or other substance from his own ground on a neighbor's, or upon his own bring or erect anything, or change the natural position of anything from which the air, the moving water, or any other force of nature will bear to another, or other land, what is distinctly injurious to him; or, by any excavation, structure, or other change of his premises from their natural condition, render them unsafe to other persons and their property lawfully thereon; while yet these restraints will not be drawn so closely as substantially to deprive him of the use of his lands, or to render him answerable for inevitable accidents injuring others.' While neither McCullough nor Webb speaks specifically to a death caused by the intentional release of water by breaking a dam or to any duty to warn, those cases are sufficient to show that Alabama does recognize that an owner or one who maintains a dam should not cause the property of the lower landowner to be rendered unsafe by his acts in connection with that dam. We find further that the plaintiff here must prove that the defendants acted in a negligent manner and that their negligence caused the death of the plaintiff's intestate. See Ellis v. Alabama Power Co., 431 So.2d 1242, 1245 (Ala.1983). One who owns or operates a dam owes a duty to the lower owners to exercise reasonable care. Id. While the typical scenario, as found in Ellis, involves a large hydroelectric dam, the same general rule is applicable to this situation. See also, M.C. West, Inc. v. Battaglia, 386 So.2d 443 (Ala.Civ.App.1980). Several other jurisdictions have found a duty to warn those persons downstream when the possibility of a flood exists. In Coates v. United States, 612 F.Supp. 592 (C.D.Ill.1985), the court held that the Government had a duty to warn persons who were camping down the mountain from a dam that the area park rangers knew had broken. The court found that there was sufficient time to warn the campers, and in fact one of the rangers had warned several persons, but without any urgency. The Government was found liable for the wrongful death of one of the campers who drowned after the flood waters reached the lower campsite where he was taking pictures. In Peterson v. United States, 367 F.2d 271 (9th Cir.1966), the plaintiffs sued to recover money damages for injury and loss of property allegedly caused by negligence when, without warning of any kind to the plaintiffs, a group of engineers attached to Ladd Air Force Base at Fairbanks, Alaska, caused to be dynamited an ice jam that had accumulated from natural causes in a bend of the Chena River. The dynamiting of the jam caused a large volume of ice and water to be discharged downstream, in turn causing damage to vessels and miscellaneous equipment five miles downstream. The district court determined that the Government had a complete legal defense under the Flood Control Act of 1928. The court of appeals disagreed, and remanded the case to the district court for a determination of the Government's liability. Finally, in Chrysler Corp. v. Dallas Power & Light Co., 522 S.W.2d 742 (Tex. Civ.App.1975), a summary judgment entered in favor of the defendant, Dallas Power & Light Company (DP & L), was found to be improper. The court stated that Texas law does recognize a duty to warn on the part of the person who creates a dangerous situation, although without negligence on his part. 522 S.W.2d at 744 (citations omitted). While the court found that DP & L did not create the flood, which caused damage to 545 vehicles stored by the plaintiff, it determined that DP & L created, maintained, and operated the dam, the presence of which posed nearly all of the problems of proper conduct. Id. We conclude that the summary judgment entered in this case in favor of the defendants as to negligence was error. The jury should be allowed to determine if the defendants created a dangerous situation downstream by the breaking of the dam and, thus, had a duty to warn those who might be affected by the sudden surge of water. We therefore reverse the summary judgment in favor of all the defendants as to this issue, and remand for further proceedings.