MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS - WATERS AND WATERCOURSES - EMINENT DOMAIN - POLLUTION OF WATER AS A "TAKING" OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

Authors

Brooks F. Crabtree, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Plaintiff sued defendant city for damages caused his land by the continual discharge of raw sewage into the river about one-half mile above plaintiff's land. The pollution rendered the water of the river unfit for domestic use and deleterious to health. Held, that although the plaintiff failed to allege the necessary elements for a tort action against a municipality, under the Washington statute, he stated a valid cause of action for damages under article I, section 16 of the Washington Constitution which states that "No private property shall be taken or damaged for public or private use without just compensation having first been made . . . . " Snavely v. City of Goldendale, (Wash. I 941) 117 P. (2d) 221.

Recommended Citation

Brooks F. Crabtree, MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS - WATERS AND WATERCOURSES - EMINENT DOMAIN - POLLUTION OF WATER AS A "TAKING" OF PRIVATE PROPERTY, 40 Mich. L. Rev. 750 (1942).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol40/iss5/12