Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District in Kansas City
JEFFERSON CITY — An appellate court has reversed a circuit court’s decision that dismissed inverse condemnation claims brought by several landowners against the Wakenda Levee District of Carroll County, finding that genuine disputes of material fact remain regarding whether modifications to a levee contributed to flooding damage on the landowners’ property.
The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District, however, upheld the lower court’s ruling denying the landowners’ request for an injunction requiring the levee district to restore the levee to its previous height.
In a decision filed June 16, the court ruled that evidence presented by the landowners created a factual dispute over whether the Wakenda Levee District’s decision to lower the height of the Cross Levee in 2021 directly caused or contributed to flooding and crop losses suffered by property owners in the neighboring Carr-Sal Levee District.
Because those disputes remain unresolved, the court held that summary judgment on the inverse condemnation claims was improper.
The dispute centers on the Cross Levee, which forms the eastern border of the Wakenda District and separates it from the Carr-Sal District, the court document states.
The Wakenda District, a judicially created levee district operating under Missouri law, exists to protect approximately 22,369 acres of land from Missouri River flooding through a system of levees and flood-control structures.
The Carr-Sal District lies immediately east of the Wakenda District and consists of roughly 1,602 acres of farmland, according to the court document.
The Cross Levee was breached during the 2019 Missouri River flood and the Wakenda District rebuilt the damaged section in February 2020 to its previous height of approximately eight feet.
In March 2021, however, the district’s board of supervisors voted to reduce the levee’s height to four feet and return borrowed dirt used during reconstruction to neighboring landowners. The court noted that the board did not conduct a study, analysis or engineering consultation regarding potential impacts on landowners in the Carr-Sal District before making that decision.
A significant rainfall and flooding event occurred in June 2021.
Water from the Wakenda District flowed over the lowered Cross Levee and onto property within the Carr-Sal District, resulting in a breach or blowout of the levee.
Landowners alleged that the district’s decision to lower the levee intentionally diverted collected surface water eastward onto their farmland rather than allowing it to flow through existing drainage features. They claimed approximately 80% of their property experienced extensive flooding, resulting in crop losses and other damages.
The landowners filed suit in March 2023, asserting multiple claims, including seven counts of inverse condemnation.
They alleged that lowering the Cross Levee while maintaining the heights of other portions of the levee system diverted floodwaters onto their land.
They also sought an injunction ordering the levee district to restore the Cross Levee to its prior eight-foot height.
The Wakenda District argued that it could not be held liable because the damages were caused by a natural flooding event and that Missouri law does not permit inverse condemnation claims based solely on floodwaters resulting from severe weather.
The circuit court agreed, finding that the June 2021 flood was the result of a weather event that produced a record crest on Wakenda Creek and concluding that the landowners could not pursue inverse condemnation claims arising from a natural weather event.
The appellate court disagreed with that conclusion.
Reviewing the record in the light most favorable to the landowners, the court found they had presented evidence, including engineering studies, expert testimony and affidavits, suggesting that lowering the Cross Levee altered the movement of floodwaters.
According to the evidence cited by the court, the Carr-Sal District lacked the capacity to quickly drain water collected within the Wakenda District, the lowered levee allowed water to discharge eastward into the Carr-Sal District and the modification caused landowners’ property to remain inundated for an additional week compared with conditions that would have existed had the levee remained at its previous height.
Engineers also concluded the district acted unreasonably in modifying the levee.
The appeals court distinguished the case from prior Missouri decisions involving damage caused solely by natural forces.
Unlike those cases, the court said, the landowners alleged and produced evidence of an affirmative governmental action, the lowering of the levee, that may have directly caused or contributed to the flooding damage.
As a result, a jury or fact-finder must determine whether the levee modification caused the alleged harm.
While reversing the dismissal of the inverse condemnation claims, the court affirmed summary judgment against the landowners on their request for injunctive relief.
The judges concluded that Missouri’s levee district statutes provide a legal process through which adjacent landowners may seek changes to a levee district’s plan of reclamation.
Because that statutory remedy exists, the court held that equitable relief in the form of a court-ordered injunction was not appropriate.
The case will now return to the circuit court for further proceedings on the landowners’ inverse condemnation claims, while the appellate court’s decision leaves intact the denial of their request to compel restoration of the Cross Levee through an injunction.
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District case number: WD88277
