Edwin P. Johnson v. Utah Power & Light Company, a Corporation

This is a suit by appellant to recover damages for the alleged maintenance of a nuisance as defined in § 52-101, Idaho Code. Appellant three times amended his complaint and the court dismissed with prejudice the third amended pleading for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

Appellant’s claim is that he owns, and has owned for some forty years, 153 acres of farm land on the westerly side of Bear River in Idaho, and that he lives on the easterly side of the river. Because his tillable land is surrounded by mountains and by the stream, it is and has been necessary for him to cross and recross the river with his equipment, etc., in the course of his farming operations. This he has done by fording the stream. Ap-pellee Power and Light Company, which maintains a series of dams and power plants on the Bear River, has allegedly, since the year 1949, by its operations interfered with the natural flow of the river by increasing the flow to such an extent that appellant’s access to and from his farm land has been obstructed in that he is unable to ford the stream as had been his wont. Such obstruction, he alleged, constitutes a nuisance which has caused him damage…