Opinion ID: 328967
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Contentions by the Flood Control District.

Text: 30 The Flood Control District requests that judgment against it be reversed because it had no authority to direct either the planning or the construction of the project. Without such authority, the Flood Control District claims, it cannot be held liable for the negligence of the United States because it was not part of a joint venture. In addition, the Flood Control District argues that such authority is a prerequisite to holding it liable as a landowner for a trespass by the flood waters or for the creation of a nuisance. 31 The evidence, the Flood Control District continues, was insufficient to establish any negligence by the Corps for which the Flood Control District could be held liable, even if there were a joint venture. Rather, the testimony demonstrates, according to the Flood Control District, that the washout resulted from the railroad's own negligence in replacing several trestles with culverts, thereby drastically reducing the area of the openings through which water could pass under the roadbed. The Flood Control District also submits that the rainfall which preceded the washout of March 1970 was an Act of God, thus negating the responsibility of any of the defendants. 32 Florida East Coast asserts that the participation by the Flood Control District, as found by the trial judge, constitutes a sufficient basis for holding the Flood Control District liable for the results of the flood, as a joint venturer, as an owner responsible for the negligent design and construction of the flood control system, or as the owner of land on which a nuisance was created. Further, the railraod says that the involvement of the Flood Control District in the project was adequate to hold it liable for the results of a trespass caused by the project. 33 The trial judge, whose findings of fact, according to the railroad, are not clearly erroneous, determined that the washout of March 26, 1970 was not caused solely by the occurrence of a natural and unprecedented event. Therefore, the railroad asserts, the defendants are not entitled to an Act of God defense. 34