Case Study 4 CARVIN vs. ARKANSA POWER AND LIGHT,
14 F.3d 399, 1993 U.S. Court of Appeals for Eighth Circuit
You be the Judge
By: Jenny Wagner
December 23, 2009

Did the easement relieve Arkansas Power and Lights from liability for flooding? Yes, Arkansas Power and Light should not be held liable for damage to property cased by flooding where an easement existed.

In 1923-1947 Arkansas Power and Light (AP&L) constructed several dams on two Arkansas lakes, Hamilton and Catherine. AP & L obtained “flood easements” on property adjoining the lakes. AP&L sold lake side property and kept the easement in force. These flood easements permitted AP&L to “clear of trees, brush, and other obstruction and to submerge by water” certain acreage, which was described exactly, AP&L properly recorded the easements and when the current landowner bought lakeside property they were aware of the documents (Beatty, 2009, p. 455).

In May of 1990, extraordinarily heavy rains caused water to reach the highest levels ever recorded. To prevent flooding to a wider area, AP&L opened the gates of Carpenter Dam causing Lake Catherine to flood which caused damage to several houses built on AP&L’s easement. Several home owners’s subsequently sued AP&L for causing the damage.

AP&L should not be held liable for the damage caused by the flooding because the sole purpose for having the easements was to allow AP&L to flood the property. An easement gives one person the right to enter land belonging to another and make a limited use of it, without taking anything away (Beatty, 2009, p. 455).

The flooded property owner’s were aware of the easements when they built their homes. If the owners of the flooded property were not the original owners of the property, documents should have been available explaining the easements. AP&L cannot be held