Rohsnagel v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.

Citations

• 69 Wash. 243
• 124 P. 900
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 884

Syllabus

<p>Waters and Water Courses—Surface Waters—Diversion—Liability—Railroad Embankment. A railroad company is liable for flooding lands, where by its embankment, it raised and collected the periodical floods of a river and discharged the same through a culvert in an unusual volume and with excessive force upon plaintiff’s lands, which it thereby washed away and injured; the principle that surface water is an outlaw and common enemy not warranting the collection of surface water in a considerable quantity to be turned in concentrated form through a ditch or culvert upon the premises of another.</p>