Delaney v. Ralph L. Smith Lumber Co.

SCHOTTKY, J. This is an appeal from an order granting defendant Ralph L. Smith Lumber Company a new trial after a jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs in an action by plaintiffs to recover damages for injury to property as a result of allegedly negligent logging operations.

The record shows that the Delaneys operate the Trinity Alps Resort which is located in the Trinity Alps region of Trinity County. During the month of December, 1955, heavy rains in the area caused Stuarts Fork of the Trinity River to rise and to carry logs and debris down the river into and over the Delaneys’ property. In the process buildings on the property and the dining wing of the resort were washed away and destroyed. The location of the resort is some 2 miles below the confluence of Van Matre Creek and Stuarts Fork. The Ralph L. Smith Lumber Company had been logging the East ½ of Section 19, Township 35 North, Range 9 West, which is above the confluence of the streams. After the damage to their property, the Delaneys brought this action to recover for the loss incurred against the lumber company and the other defendants.

The complaint alleged:

“That at all the times herein mentioned, the defendants were in the possession of and chargeable with the control and operation of all that certain lot, piece or parcel of land situate, lying and being in the County of Trinity, State of California, and described as follows;

“The E ½ of Section 19, Township 35 North, Range 9 West, M.D.M.;”

The complaint alleged further that the defendants during their logging operations negligently and carelessly deposited trees and large logs in and adjacent to Stuarts Fork; that the defendants could have ascertained by reasonable diligence that the debris and logs would be carried off during the usual run-off and that the logs and debris would have damaged plaintiffs’ property.

The evidence presented was sufficient to sustain a verdict in favor of the appellants, the Delaneys. The trial judge granted a new trial because the complaint alleged negligence occurring on a particular parcel of land, and in the opinion of the trial judge there was no evidence in the record to identify the place from where the log that caused the major damage came. The record discloses that logging had been done on Section 18, as well as the southeast quarter of Section 19.

The order granting the new trial stated that it was granted [718]