Lampley v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R.
Lampley v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The complaint sets forth two causes of action. The railroad track crosses the Pee Dee River and runs for about three miles through the low grounds, and when there is a flood the river is about three miles wide. The track is laid on embankments through these low grounds, with occasional openings, on trestle work. The plaintiff owns land both above and below the railroad, and also leased and planted a large tract above the railroad. There was testimony to the effect that the means of escape for the water were insufficient. The plaintiff complains: (1) That his crop of oats for 1899 was destroyed by the freshets in the river, by reason of the fact that they were held on those lands above and also on those below longer than they would have been without said dam. (2) By the waters being collected in great volume above said embankment and being discharged with great force through the narrow and insufficient openings, his land below was washed off by its *464 force. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $350.
The record contains the following statement: “Upon the reading of the complaint, the defendant submitted an oral demurrer, having complied with the rule of Court relating thereto1, and moved to dismiss the same upon the ground that the said complaint failed to state facts sufficient to; constitute a cause of action, because the plaintiff’s alleged damage as to both causes of action arose from diffusion and overflow of the freshet water of the Great Pee Dee River, which had diffused itself in a time of freshet over his cultivated lands, and that said water was a common enemy, and that no right of action for damage thereby could arise against the defendant; and upon the further ground that the allegations of the complaint as to overflow of surface water, whether separately stated as a distinct cause of action or not, were insufficient to base a claim for damages upon against defendant, and should be dismissed and stricken from the complaint. The demurrer was overruled by the presiding Judge. After the rendition of the verdict, defendant duly moved the Court for a new trial upon the grounds that the verdict was contrary to the charge of the Judge in the following particulars:’ (1) Because his Honor charged the Jury in effect that the damages arising merely by backing or retention of surface water would not give plaintiff a right of action for damages, and there was no evidence of damage from any other cause. (2) Because his Honor charged the jury in effect that the railroad company was not required to provide against extraordinary floods and freshets, and the undisputed testimony was that the freshet to which plaintiff laid his damage was of such character — indeed, was one of the largest ever known. (3) .Because his Honor charged the jury in effect that in case of damages on account of obstruction of the river, the jury must conclude that the railroad bridge or piers wrongfully obstructed the running stream, and there was no evidence to that effect. (4) Because there was absolutely no proof upon which the jury could legally .estimate the damage to the *465 plaintiff’s crops under the charge of the Court as to what the true measure of damage was, his Honor having charged the jury in effect that the damage must be proved, and that speculative damages could not be found. The other grounds of the motion related to the insufficiency of the testimony to support the verdict and are not involved in this appeal. The motion for a new trial was refused, but the presiding Judge thereafter passed the following order upon said motion: ‘The complaint herein contains two causes of action, separately stated and numbered as such. Under the first, two elements of damages are alleged — one to real estate and the other to the destruction of 2,000 bushels of oats, caused by the careless and negligent construction of defendant’s railroad bridge, trestles and embankments for its track. Under the second cause of action, the identical injuries to plaintiff are alleged in consequence of the wrongful obstruction of a water course known as the Pee Dee River, under the provision of an act of 1897 (22 Stats., 489), without any allegation of negligence. No motion having been made to compel plaintiff to elect upon which cause of action he would proceed, both were tried together, and the jury found a general verdict for the plaintiff of $350.
“ ‘A motion for a new trial upon the minutes being made by defendant’s counsel; now, after hearing argument pro and con, and carefully considering all the evidence in the case, I am satisfied that the acts of negligence complained of in the first cause of action were not supported by the proof. I fail to find from the evidence any fact to warrant a conclusion that the bridge, trestles and embankments which support defendant’s railroad track are so constructed as to support the allegation of a nuisance, as alleged in the first cause of action. Under the second cause of action, however, the element of negligence is not a necessary ingredient, since that is based upon the aforesaid act of 1897, for the wrongful obstruction of a water course. The jury having passed upon the facts under that cause of action, I do not feel at *466 liberty to interfere with their finding, in so far as it may relate thereto.
“ ‘It is, therefore, ordered, That in so far as the verdict of the jury may refer to or be based on the first cause of action, it is set aside and defendant’s motion sustained; but the said verdict may be referred to the second cause of action, and to that extent and for that purpose the defendant’s motion for a new trial is refused.’ ”
It is the judgment of this Court, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be reversed and the case remanded ’to that Court for a new trial.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Lampley v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R. Co.
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Railroads — Bridges and Trestles — Negligent Construction — Negligence. — Proof of the fact that a railroad has so constructed its embankment as to shut off eighty per cent, of the water passage, is proof of negligent construction, in disregard of the rights of the landowner. 2. NEW Trial.' — Granting new trial as to one cause of action necessarily has the effect of granting it as to other causes of action, when the verdict is a general one: 3. Water and Water Courses — Charge.—Law as to obstructing a river substantially correct as charged, and if defendant desired more specific instructions, he should have so requested. 4. Ibid. — Surface Waters. — Complaint held to state a cause of action for obstructing the freshet waters of a river. 5. Exception. — Objection without ground not ruled on cannot become the basis of an exception. 6. Damages' — Crop.—Rental value of land, costs of fertilizers, costs of preparation of land and cultivation of crop, value of services of owner in overlooking the work, and interest on amount lost until verdict, make up the damages to immature crops destroyed.