Burnham v. Windham
Supreme Court of New Hampshire
Case, for negligently maintaining a culvert in a highway in the defendant town, in consequence of which negligence the plaintiff’s cellar was flooded in March, 1911. Trial by jury and verdict for the plaintiff. Transferred from the April term, 1912, of the superior court by Pike, J., upon the defendant’s exceptions to the denial of motions for a nonsuit and the direction of a verdict in its favor. The plaintiff’s dwelling adjoins the highway on the north.
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Case, for negligently maintaining a culvert in a highway in the defendant town, in consequence of which negligence the plaintiff’s cellar was flooded in March, 1911. Trial by jury and verdict for the plaintiff. Transferred from the April term, 1912, of the superior court by Pike, J., upon the defendant’s exceptions to the denial of motions for a nonsuit and the direction of a verdict in its favor. The plaintiff’s dwelling adjoins the highway on the north. Some fifty years ago a drain was constructed from the bottom of the cellar to the surface of the ground, at a point about six feet north of…
1Opinion of the CourtWalker, J.
The plaintiff’s evidence authorized a finding by the jury that the defendant did not, at the time of the injury complained of, manage and control the flow of water in its culvert in a reasonable manner, and that in consequence of its unreasonable mismanagement in this respect damage was inflicted upon the plaintiff’s property. After it was notified by the plaintiff that the water, which ordinarily would flow through the culvert, was forced back into her cellar, it had full knowledge of the existence of the cellar drain and of the stoppage in the culvert. There was evidence that the town, in…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- O'Brien v. DerrySupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1905
- Elliott v. MasonSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1911
- Clair v. ManchesterSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1903