Clark v. Icicle Irrigation District

On February 27, 1965, the bank of an irrigation ditch, owned and maintained by the defendant, had broken or washed out, sending a large volume of water and mud approximately a hundred yards down a steep hill and against and through the house in which Grayson Clark, Jr., his wife, and their 20-month-old son were sleeping. Clark and his wife escaped with their lives. The child was killed; the room he occupied being filled almost to the ceiling with mud, dirt and debris. Even trees in the path of the mud and water had been carried down the hill and into the house.

The Clarks brought this action…