Fitzpatrick v. Okanogan County

*292¶1 The common enemy rule, which allows landowners to repel surface waters to the detriment of their neighbors, does not apply when the landowner obstructs a watercourse or natural drainway or when the landowner obstructs riparian water from entering a flood channel. Currens v. Sleek, 138 Wn.2d 858, 862-63, 983 P.2d 626, 993 P.2d 900 (1999); Sund v. Keating, 43 Wn.2d 36, 42-43, 259 P.2d 1113 (1953). Landowners appeal summary dismissal of their inverse condemnation claim. They claim that a dike owned, constructed, maintained, and modified by government entities blocked side channels through…