Danforth v. United States

Danforth v. United States

Opinion

 [*276]   [**233]   [***242]  MR. JUSTICE REED delivered the opinion of the Court.

A writ of certiorari was granted ¹ to review the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ² affirming a judgment of the District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri which awarded to a property owner, against the United States, compensation in condemnation less in amount than a sum fixed by an arrangement between the parties prior to the institution of the condemnation. This judgment provided for payment of the award into the registry of the court and that upon such payment the United States should be entitled to the relief sought. Although the issue was raised by the landowner, no provision  [*277]  was made as to interest. The writ was granted to determine important questions of federal law as to the effect in condemnation, of prior agreements by the United States as to the amount of awards and as to the running of interest.

 [****11]  This proceeding arose in the course of carrying out the protection from destructive floods of the alluvial valley of the Mississippi between Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Head of Passes, Louisiana. This work of internal improvement was begun under the Flood Control Act of May 15, 1928. ³ The passage of this Act followed the disastrous experience with the flood of 1927 and was based upon a comprehensive report and plan known as the Jadwin Plan, Major  [***243]  General Edgar Jadwin, then Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, being in charge of its development. ⁴ The plan covers the great alluvial valley of the Mississippi through its entire length from the Ohio to the delta. In essence, the plan in its entirety is based upon a levee system which constricts the water to a moderate degree and allows in periods of extreme floods the escape from some lower levees, known as fuse-plugs, of the water from the main channel to back waters and floodways.

 [****12]  The particular portion of the plan involved here is known as the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway. Prior to the passage of the Flood Control Act, there were levees along the west bank of the Mississippi between Birds Point, Missouri, and New Madrid, Missouri, which substantially followed the meanderings of the river. To get a greater area for the spreading of flood waters, the plan  [*278]  provided for a second levee to be set back about five miles from the riverbank levee running from Birds Point to St. Johns Bayou, just east of New Madrid. Near its upstream connection with the set-back levee the present riverbank levee would be lowered some five feet by what is called a fuse-plug, so that at high flood the water will begin to flow into the wide floodway below. It is expected that this enlarged channel will keep anticipated floods from rising above the levees protecting Cairo, Illinois. The set-back levee will confine its diverted water to the floodway area between the set-back levee and the riverside levee and will return the water to the Mississippi through a lower fuse-plug section where a gap is left in the levee system to permit complete drainage. The land involved in [****13]  this condemnation is situated in this floodway immediately east of the set-back levee and about midway between Birds Point and New Madrid.

Full case includes Shepard's, Headnotes, Legal Analytics from Lex Machina, and more.