Zamora v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy Dist‪.‬

Plaintiff, in the latter part of 1937, filed his petition in the District Court for assessment of damages, naming as defendant the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, hereafter referred to as the District. Plaintiff alleged that he is a property owner within the limits of the District, and that in about the year 1932 the defendant constructed through plaintiffs land an irrigation ditch; that said ditch crosses plaintiffs land in such a way that a portion of said land cannot be irrigated, but that a portion of the land in said tract can be irrigated from said ditch; that in the construction of said ditch, the District failed to make provision to take care of flood waters occurring on said land; that as a result of said construction and the coming of floods, the waters backed up against the ditch until they became of such force that said ditch broke, causing the waters to flood the lands of plaintiff, destroying his crops; that in the construction of said ditch, the defendant failed, refused and neglected to provide a means for furnishing water to the plaintiff for the irrigation of his land, although ten acres thereof were found by defendant to be capable of irrigation and an assessment had been placed against said ten-acre tract for the benefits derived from the formation and operation of said District, that the flood waters heretofore mentioned damaged a house owned by plaintiff and situated on his land within the District.