Sutherland v. Hickory Nut Corp.

CAMPBELL, Judge.

In North Carolina, “[w]e follow the ‘Civil-Law Rule,’ which recognizes a natural servitude of natural drainage as between adjoining lands, so that the lower owner must accept the surface water which naturally drains onto his land but, on the other hand, the upper owner cannot change the natural drainage so as to increase the natural burden.” Midgett v. Highway Commission, 260 N.C. 241, 244, 132 S.E. 2d 599, 603 (1963). “While . . . the lower landowner is required to receive *439surface waters from higher lands when they flow naturally therefrom, he is not required to receive from…