San Diego Water Co. v. San Diego Flume Co.

This action was brought by plaintiff to enjoin the defendant from shutting off or preventing the flow of water into certain mains and pipes of plaintiff. The court granted a nonsuit, and entered judgment for defendant; from which judgment, and from an order denying a motion for a new trial, plaintiff appeals.

Each of the parties is a corporation organized under the general laws of the state for the purpose of distributing, selling, and furnishing water to consumers in the county and city of San Diego. The contracts and the relations of the parties out of which this litigation came are somewhat complicated. The main facts are as follows: In September, 1890, the respondent (the flume "company) was the owner of a supply of water, which it brought from a long distance by means of ditches, flumes, and pipes to the boundary of the city of San Diego—or, as counsel put it “to the gates of the city”; but it had no pipes or other means within said city by which it could distribute water to the inhabitants thereof. The appellant (the water company) owned a system or plant of pipes by which it could distribute water through *54 the greater part of the city which it had been using to…