Paret v. Louisiana Highway Commission

ODOM, Justice.

Plaintiffs own a rice farm in Calcasieu parish and for irrigation purposes maintain a canal which runs parallel with, and near to, a public road. On each side of the canal there is a levee about four feet high. In the year 1931 the Louisiana highway commission built a paved highway along the line of the old road. It was found necessary to widen the old road, and in doing so the contractor encroached upon plaintiffs’ levee; removed a quantity of earth, and in places practically destroyed it. The present suit is for the recovery of the value of the earth removed and the damage…