Atkinson v. Herington Cattle Co., Inc.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Kaul, J.:

This is an action by plaintiffs-appellees for damages for pollution of their dairy farm water supply resulting from a cattle feeding operation of defendants-appellants. For convenience the appellees will be referred to hereafter as Atkinsons and the appellants as Herington and Swift.

In 1961 Herington leased a tract of land, formerly a part of the Herington Air Base, from the City of Herington and constructed facilities for the commercial feeding of cattle. The cattle feeding operations were commenced in December of 1961. In the fall of 1962…