Colwell Systems, Inc. v. Henson

The Boneyard Creek runs through the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s adjacent tracts of land in Champaign. In 1971 the defendant, who is the upstream or dominant owner, replaced the natural channel of the creek with culverts, laying them side by side in the creek bed. In 1979 the plaintiff’s basement was flooded, and the plaintiff sued, alleging that the defendant’s culverts had caused the flooding because they could not carry off large amounts of water. The trial court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the question of liability and later awarded about $280,000 in damages.…