Court Opinion

ID: 9665633
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:53:24.723078+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:17.179587
License: Public Domain

FINCH, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the principal opinion herein.
In the case of White v. Wabash R. R., 240 Mo.App. 344, 207 S.W.2d 505 (1947), Judge Cave, writing for the Kansas City Court of Appeals, reviewed the subject of *604the obligations imposed upon railroad companies under § 5222 RSMo 1939, the predecessor statute of § 389.660 RSMo 1969, V. A.M.S. After discussing various cases which had considered the law of Missouri with respect with surface water, the court said, 207 S.W.2d l.c. 509:
“But plaintiffs contend that, even under the common-law doctrine, the dominant proprietor, in his fight against surface water, cannot collect the same in a large body, conduct it by artificial means, as by a ditch, and discharge it upon the servient estate in an increased volume. That doctrine is thoroughly established in this state when certain facts exist. Tucker v. Hagan, Mo.App., 300 S.W. 301, 303; Kiger v. Sanko, Mo.App., 1 S. W.2d 218; Farrar v. Shuss, 221 Mo.App. 472, 475, 282 S.W. 512, and many other cases cited in those opinions. But when those cases are analyzed they do not involve a consideration of Sec. 5222, RSMo 1939, Mo.R.S.A., and are not decided upon the rights and obligations which that section gives and imposes upon a railroad company. Those, and similar cases, are discussing and deciding a situation where the owner of the dominant estate (not a railroad company) collects surface water in an artificial ditch or pond and discharges it upon the servient estate at a point where there is not a natural watercourse. In other words, the dominant estate does not permit the surface water to follow the natural contour of the land and flow onto the servient estate in a multitude of places, but rather collects the same into a concentrated area and discharges it in a large volume upon the servient estate at a point where there is no natural drain on the servient estate to carry it away.
“However, Sec. 5222, supra, requires the company, within three months after the completion of the construction of a railroad in any county in the state, ‘to cause to be constructed and maintained suitable openings across and through the right of way and roadbed of such railroad, and suitable ditches and drains along each side of the roadbed of such railroad, to connect with ditches, drains or water courses, so as to afford sufficient outlet to drain and carry off the water, including surface water, along such railroad whenever the draining of such water has been obstructed or rendered necessary by the construction of such railroad; * * *.’ (Italics supplied.) Thus the railroad is required by statute to construct and maintain suitable ditches and drains along its tracts or right-of-way for the very purpose of collecting surface water and draining it into other ditches, drains or watercourses where it will be carried away. This is an obligation not required of other owners of a dominant estate.”
Shortly thereafter, this court decided the leading case of Smithpeter v. Wabash R. R., 360 Mo. 835, 231 S.W.2d 135 (Mo. banc 1950). Plaintiff had obtained a verdict for damages resulting from floodwaters produced by the impoundment by the railroad of waters from Wakenda Creek including surface water. Recovery was made on the basis that the opening constructed by the railroad in its embankment pursuant to § 5222 RSMo 1939 was too small, causing the waters to back up and destroy plaintiff’s crops. In deciding that appeal, this court considered at length the meaning and effect of § 5222 and the rights and responsibilities of the railroad thereunder, both with respect to water in natural watercourses and surface water. Beginning at l.c. 140, of 231 S.W.2d, the court said:
“The statute, Sec. 5222, made it the defendant’s duty ‘to cause to be constructed and maintained suitable openings across and through the right of way and roadbed of such railroad * * * to connect with ditches, drains or watercourses, so as to afford sufficient outlet to drain and carry off the water, including surface water, along such railroad whenever the draining of such water has been obstructed or rendered necessary by *605the construction of such railroad/ etc. The defendant was under the statutory-duty to maintain suitable openings through its right of way (to connect with the Wakenda watercourse south of its track) to afford sufficient outlet for the water, including surface water, because the draining and escape of that water is naturally obstructed by the railroad embankment unless the railroad permits it to pass through to the south side. No railroad may dam up a flowing watercourse. No railroad may back up the water flowing in a natural watercourse. The opening under its bridge must be sufficient to permit all water coming down the watercourse to flow through the railroad embankment, even in flood times. Jones v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 343 Mo. 1104, 125 S.W.2d 5; Goll v. Chicago & A. R. R. Co., 271 Mo. 655, 197 S.W. 244; Brown v. St. Louis & S. F. R. Co., 212 Mo.App. 541, 248 S.W. 12. Under this statute a railroad must have an opening through its embankment sufficient to let through the water, including surface water, which reaches its embankment. When the water reaches the railroad embankment it must either be permitted by the railroad to get through the embankment or it will (as it did in this case) flood the land above.”
The railroad contended that plaintiff had not shown that there were sufficient ditches, drains, or watercourses below the railroad embankment sufficient to carry off the water coming through defendant’s embankment. For this reason, said the railroad, plaintiff was not entitled to recover damages on the basis that the opening was not sufficient and had caused impoundment of the water above the embankment. This court overruled that contention, saying 1. c. 141:
“We do not agree that a railroad’s duty is so limited under that statute. Analysis of the statute discloses nothing therein which limits the railroad’s duty to passing through its embankment only such water as can be carried off below. In Sec. 5222, we find neither words nor context which warrants any such construction. The statutory duty is that the railroad must construct and maintain ‘suitable openings’ through its embankment, to connect with watercourses, ‘so as to afford sufficient outlet’ (through its embankment) i. e., to permit all water (including flood water) to get through its embankment to the lower side, ‘whenever the draining of such water has been obstructed or rendered necessary by the construction of such railroad.’ Jones v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., supra. There is not one word in the statute limiting the water the railroad must let through its embankment to such water as can be carried off within the banks of the drain, ditch or watercourse below the railroad. Nor is there anything in the statute intimating the railroad’s duty is discharged if the water above the embankment and required to be let through cannot be carried off within the banks of the existing ‘ditch, drain or watercourse.’ The statute does not require the watercourse below the bridge be ‘sufficient’ to carry away water drained through the embankment.
“It is required that there be a ditch, drain or watercourse into which the opening in the embankment allows the water to flow. * * * But there is no statutory requirement as to the sufficiency, or the size, or the water carrying capacity of the connecting ditch, drain or watercourse extending below the embankment.”
The court then proceeded to discuss and overrule earlier Court of Appeals opinions which had held that the ditch, drain or watercourse below the embankment must be amply sufficient to carry the water let through the embankment.
The court summed up as follows, 1. c. 143:
“To judicially declare that a railroad is required under this statute to pass through its embankment only such water *606as will not overflow the ditch, drain or watercourse running from the downstream side of its embankment, in effect, is to declare that a railroad may itself determine the extent of its duty under this statute. That would nullify the statute. Nor can the law he written that a railroad must be able to correctly gauge, under any and all conditions and at all places, or under any circumstances, the adequacy, sufficiency or water carrying capacity of a lower ditch, drain or watercourse, and thus at its peril let only so much (and no more) water through its embankment. Such a construction would place upon the railroad an even greater burden than the instant statute, and, likewise, would circumvent the plain purpose of the statute’s enactment. The legislative intent was that, under the circumstances stated in the statute, a railroad embankment shall not serve as an artificial dam to back up water upon a dominant owner to the damage of the latter.”
While the court’s discussion focused particularly on the fact that the railroad’s obligation to allow all water to pass through the embankment was contingent only on the existence of a ditch, drain or watercourse below the outlet and not upon the size or capacity of such ditch, drain or watercourse, it is clear that the court in Smithpeter and in White was saying that the obligations and rights of railroads are governed by the statute in question. The opinion states that the statute may not be construed or applied so as to impose on railroads greater obligations than those specified in the statute. It follows that the rights and obligations of appellant herein with respect to both impoundment and release of water diverted from watercourses (including surface water) are those spelled out in § 389.660 and that said statute also governs and limits the rights that plaintiffs as ones affected by alleged failure of appellant to comply with the requirements of § 389.660 may assert. The statute rather than the common law fixes the rights and obligations of both the railroad and the property owners in those situations such as this where the statute is applicable.
Appellant herein contends that the evidence in these cases shows full compliance by it with the requirements of § 389.660 and that verdicts in its favor should have been directed in both cases. As indicated above, I agree with appellant’s contention that § 389.660 is a substantive statute which fixes and limits the railroad’s rights and obligations, but I do not agree that defendant is entitled to a directed verdict in these cases. Col. Des Islets, the expert witness who testified on behalf of plaintiffs, stated that the box culvert constructed by defendant was properly located and was adequate in size to handle the water from the Hawkins-Anderson ditch and the tributary ditch (including surface water) but he further testified that the culvert was not properly connected to the ditch below the embankment. He pointed out that instead of the culvert being constructed in direct alignment with the ditch below, it was connected at a 45 degree angle with nothing to direct or channel the water from the culvert into the existing ditch. The result, according to Col. Des Islets, was the creation of an artificial water dam at that point which impeded the flow of the water, causing some impoundment above and resulting in water overflowing below onto the plaintiffs’ land instead of flowing into the ditch. Col. Des Islets was of the opinion that a short wing wall or guide wall in connection with the culvert would channel the water into the ditch and prevent the formation of the artificial water dam with the resultant impoundment and overflow.
When § 389.660 provides that the opening in the embankment shall connect with ditches, drains or watercourses in order to drain off the water (including surface water), it means that the railroad shall properly connect therewith, i. e., in a manner which will permit the unimpeded flow of water through the embankment into the ditches, drains or watercourses below. Construction in such a manner as to create *607an artificial water dam rather than an unimpeded flow is not such a connection. Thus, the testimony of Col. Des Islets, if believed by the jury, was sufficient to support a verdict for plaintiffs because it established appellant’s failure to properly connect the culvert to the ditch below. Such failure would constitute noncompliance with the requirements of § 389.660.
The principal opinion recognizes that, as appellant contends, plaintiffs’ verdict-directing instructions do ignore § 389.660. For example, it recognizes that Instruction 3 does not require a finding of any of the elements which would constitute a violation of § 389.660 but justifies that fact on the basis that such finding is unnecessary when the landowner elects to sue for trespass.1 The net effect of this ruling in the principal opinion is that compliance with § 389.660 is no defense to a railroad if any land upstream or downstream is flooded and that a plaintiff landowner may ignore the statute and sue just as though it did not exist. In my view such a position is untenable. Subsections 1 and 3 of § 389.660 specifically provide for actions against the railroad for damages resulting either from failure on the part of the company to construct and maintain in accordance with the statute or in any other respect failing to comply with provisions of the statute. It is obvious that the General Assembly intended that if the railroad fully and completely complied with the obligations mandatorily imposed by the statute, recovery for diversion of the water should not be allowed. It was not intended to impose strict liability irrespective of whether the railroad complied with its obligations. The statute contemplates only recovery for breach of statutory obligations resulting in damage.
As noted above, plaintiffs submitted these cases to the jury on the basis of nuisance and trespass rather than on the basis of breach of the statutory obligations. Even if we assume the correctness of plaintiffs’ contention that they may sue in this manner rather than by employing the rights of action granted in subsections 1 or 3 of § 389.660, a question I do not reach or decide, plaintiffs’ instructions in any event are erroneous because they would permit recovery from the railroad even though it did precisely and only what § 389.660 requires it to do. Regardless of the label to be attached to a landowner’s suit against the railroad, the verdict-directing instruction must submit the issue of whether the defendant has breached its obligations under § 389.660.
There was also an issue as to whether the court erred in submitting the issue of punitive damages in the Clinton County case and whether the instructions as given were correct. In view of my conclusion that plaintiffs’ verdict-directing instructions in both cases are erroneous, I do not reach the issues with respect to punitive damages.
I would reverse and remand because of error in plaintiffs’ verdict-directing instructions.

. The principal opinion makes the same ruling with respect to a comparable deficiency in instruction 2A (also 2B, 2C and 2D), in the nuisance case, holding that such finding is not necessary when the landowner elects to sue based on a claim of nuisance. However, somewhat inconsistently, the principal opinion goes on to state as follows: “There was evidence to support each submission of the nuisance instruction: The creation of a culvert improperly constructed (again without an adequate wing wall to divert the watercourse down the natural Hawkins channel) ; ⅝ * This statement seems to assume that Instruction 2A submitted to the jury this issue of alleged improper construction by not including a wing wall. Such is not the case. An examination of Instruction 2A discloses that such issue was not submitted to the jury. Hence, in part, the principal opinion justifies Instruction 2A on a false premise.