Wayne Kunz Olive Kunz Glenn v. Turner Carol Turner v. Utah Power & Light Co.

This ease was originally submitted on November 1,1988. It was withdrawn from submission on September 28, 1989 following our certification of several questions to the Idaho Supreme Court on March 22, 1989. The Idaho Supreme Court responded on April 3, 1990. submitted. This case is hereby re-

Various landowners (“Landowners”) brought suit against the Utah Power & Light Company (“Utah Power”) for damages to real and personal property caused by water discharged from a lake used as a water storage system by Utah Power. The district court subsequently dismissed all causes of action set forth by the Landowners, except negligence, for failure to state a cause recognized by Idaho law. In a special verdict, the jury found that Utah Power was not negligent and the court entered judgment for Utah Power. The Landowners appealed, contending that the court below erred in dismissing its alternative, non-negligence theories of liability.

We certified several questions to the Idaho Supreme Court to determine the applicable standard of liability in cases involving damages caused by the deliberate, although non-negligent, discharge of water stored for irrigation and related purposes into a natural…