Lowery v. San Joaquin & Kings River Canal & Irrigation Co.

Injury from Flood-water—Back-water from Dam—Level of Land — Verdict against Evidence. — A verdict for the plaintiff for damages for injury to his land and crops from flood-water, alleged to have been occasioned by back-water from defendant’s dam, is against the evidence, where it affirmatively appears that the back-water from the dam was below the natural level of the plaintiff’s land, and there is no evidence to the contrary.

Id.—Inference against Laws of Physics.—No reasonable inference can be drawn contrary to the laws of physics and the course of nature, that the back-water below the level of the plaintiff’s land either caused or contributed to the injury to the plaintiff’s land.

Id.—Meeting of Flood-waters with Back-waters — Speculative Assumption. — Where it appears that flood-waters from another source stood at plaintiff’s levees two feet higher than the highest point of overflow thereof at the dam, the verdict cannot be supported upon the mere speculative assumption that the injury might have been occasioned by the meeting of the waters tending to raise the level of the back-water at the place of meeting.