Okaw Drainage District of Champaign and Douglas County, Illinois, a Municipal Corporation v. National Distillers and Chemical Corporation

ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge.

In November 1951, defendant’s predecessor, National Petro-Chemicals Corporation, 1 contracted with the Okaw Drainage District to maintain its main drainage ditch, a fourteen-mile segment of the Kaskaskia River. The contract was in effect between 1952 and 1987, when it was terminated at National’s option. 2 The maintenance tasks that National undertook included dredging the bottom of the channel to remove accumulating sediment and clearing brush from along the river’s banks. National’s alleged failure to perform that work led the Drainage District to file…