Spokane Valley Land & Water Co. v. Arthur D. Jones & Co.

Citations

• 53 Wash. 37
• 101 P. 515
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 1268

Syllabus

<p>Judgment — Res Judicata — Matters That Might Have Been Litigated. A judgment perpetually enjoining an irrigation company from lowering tbe waters of a lake, claimed by littoral owners by prior appropriation, is res judicata in a subsequent action by tbe irrigation company to condemn tbe right to use tbe waters, and concludes tbe company from asserting in tbe condemnation suit tbat the littoral owners bad not appropriated tbe waters and tbat tbe same were open to appropriation by it by virtue of an act of Congress; since such question might have been litigated in tbe former action.</p> <p>Irrigation — Eminent Domain — Proceedings—Amendment Limiting Waters Sought — Appeal—Errors Reserved. In condemnation by an irrigation company of tbe waters of a lake, affecting tbe right of littoral owners to water used by them for irrigation purposes, an offer of evidence of a proposed stipulation agreeing to permit tbe defendants to use sufficient water to irrigate their lands, is in substance an amendment of tbe petition limiting tbe water sought to be conveyed, and error, if any, in refusing the evidence is sufficiently reserved by exceptions, without formal offer to amend tbe petition.</p> <p>Same — Petition—Certainty as to Water Rights Condemned. Tbe rule tbat property sought to be condemned must be described with reasonable certainty, is sufficiently complied with where, in condemnation of littoral rights and waters in a lake for irrigation purposes, tbe petitioner exempted such water as was necessary to irrigate tbe lands of tbe littoral owners, and showed tbe number of acres of their irrigable land and tbat five-thousandths of a cubic foot per second of time per acre was sufficient; since tbat gave tbe court a definite basis for a decree, and tbat is certain which can be made certain.</p> <p>Same — Right to Condemn Waters — Joint User. Bal. Code, § 4156, providing that the rights of riparian owners to water needed for irrigation cannot be condemned, establishes the polic