Drainage District No. Three v. Riverside Drainage District

Citations

• 104 Kan. 233
• 178 P. 433
• 1919 Kan. LEXIS 232

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Drainage District — Authority to Change Watercourses — Contracts with Landowners- Outside District. Under the drainage^act, Laws of 1905, chapter 215, it is competent for the directors of a drainage district to change the channels of watercourses and relocate and establish new ones, and to that end they may make contracts with landowners outside of the district, and the judgment and discretion so vested may be exercised by them without interference of control by the courts, unless fraud or bad faith enters into their action.</p> <p>2. Same — No Implication of Bad Faith. The fact that the directors may have had a wrong conception of their duties or have taken some illegal steps in the performance of their duties, does not necessarily imply bad faith nor that their conduct was so arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable as to indicate an abuse of the power conferred.</p> <p>3. Same — Flooding Lands — Injury' to Property in New Drainage District —Party Plaintiff in Injunction Suit. An action to enjoin the maintenance of a system of drainage that has been established by an organized district, upon the ground that it results in flooding, injury and loss to the lands of owners ip a newly created district, and to the roads and bridges therein, cannot be maintained at the suit of the new district, but must be brought in the name of the st'ate, at the instance of the attorney-general or the county attorney.</p>