Thompson v. McFarland
Thompson v. McFarland
Opinion of the Court
after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.
Appellant contends that, when the Hooper City Irrigation District was dissolved, the decree entered in its favor and the one which appellant is charged with having violated ceased to have 'any force or effect, ‘ and that he was no longer bound by it, and that the court erred in permitting the Hooper Irrigation Company to be substituted as the party plaintiff in the action in place of the trustees who commenced the proceedings in behalf of the irrigation district. On the other hand, counsel for respondent contends that, under section 2920, Eevised Statutes 1898, the cause of action survived, and that it can either be prosecuted and the decree enforced in the name of the trustees of the irrigation district or that of the Hooper Irrigation Company. This section of the statute is as follows:
“An action or proceeding does not abate by the death or any disability of a party, or by the transfer of any interest therein, if the cause of action or proceeding survive or continue. In case of the death or any disability of a party, the court, on motion, may allow the action or proceeding to be continued by or against his representative or successor in interest. In the case of any other transfer of interest, the action or proceeding may be continued in the name of the original party, or the court may allow the person to whom the transfer is made to be iubstituted in the action or proceeding.”
The record shows that there were some twenty-five or thirty members, including the defendant herein, who were landowners and entitled to the use of water from the canals un
“This company shall deliver water only to the stockholders herein at the places where water is taken out of this company’s canals by the various lateral ditches of the stockholders, according to their respective rights in and to the waters running into the canal and ditches of this company as represented by their certificates of stock; and the number of acres and the description of the land which they will be entitled to irrigate by means of this company’s canals and the extent of their water rights shall be stated in the certificates of' stock.”
While it appears from the record that each of the defendants to the action in which the decree in question was entered had an interest in the Hooper City irrigation canal and a right to the use of a portion of the water flowing therein, the extent of such right, was not defined and determined. In fact, no reference is made in the decree as to the quantity of water which Thomas McFarland and his codefendants were entitled to have distributed to them. Had the decree defined and fixed the amount of water to which they were entitled, and their rights in this respect adjudicated, and de-' fendant had, in violation of such decree, willfully taken more water than he was entitled to and had been proceeded against in the first instance by some party having an interest in the canal, quite a different question from the one before us would have been presented. The decree under consideration only deals with the right of certain officers to regulate the distribution of water among landholders entitled thereto, whose ti-
Even if it were conceded that the right of action to enforce the decree survived the dissolution of the irrigation district in favor of the new corporation, the judgment in this -case could not be upheld. The proceedings in the case are civil in character, and it is apparent that whatever damage, if any, resulted because of McFarland having taken the water as charged in the complainant’s affidavit was suffered by all the landholders in common, and was not confined to those ■only who became members and whose interests were merged in and represented by the new company; and, as we have suggested, even though it were conceded that the right of action survived in favor of the new company, then in such a ■case, while the company-might institute proceedings of this kind, yet, before it would be entitled to recover for actual ■or special damages, it would be necessary to prove such damages. (Davidson v. Munsey, 29 Utah 181, 80 Pac. 743.) No •evidence whatever was introduced which showed or tended to show that the new company (substituted plaintiff) had sustained any actual damages. Yet the court arbitrarily entered judgment in favor of the company and against defend- and for $550. It is claimed by counsel for respondent that this amount was allowed by the court and was intended 'to cover the costs and expenses of the proceeding, in which was included $500 as an attorney’s fee; but the judgment does not so state. In fact, no reference therein is made to costs and expenses, nor to attorney’s fees; and, as no findings were made in the case, the judgment is conclusive as to what the court intended.
The judgment is reversed, with directions to the trial court to dismiss the proceedings. Costs of this appeal to be taxed against respondent.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THOMPSON v. McFARLAND
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- 1 case
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- Published