Clatsop County Diking District No. 5 v. Astoria Marine Construction Co.

Plaintiff, a local diking district, owns an easement across property belonging to defendant Astoria Marine Construction Co. It seeks a declaratory judgment that it is entitled to raise the height of existing levees built on the easement and to construct an additional levee on a portion of the easement where no levee currently exists. The trial court granted plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, and defendant appeals. We reverse and remand.

The easement was created by three instruments. Defendant’s predecessor granted the diking district an easement on December 7,1937, which states in…