Harris v. Brooks

Mashburn and Brooks both leased shoreline and lake-bed land on Horseshoe Lake; Brooks had drawn roughly consistent amounts of water from the lake to irrigate rice since at least 1931, a use Mashburn knew about when he leased his own site in March 1954 to start a boating and fishing rental business the following month. When Brooks resumed pumping water in May 1954, the lake's water level fell so low by July that Mashburn had to shut down his boating business and fishing dried up, and by August the low water was found to be endangering the lake's fish population altogether. Mashburn sued in chancery court to enjoin Brooks's pumping, arguing it had ruined the lake for fishing and recreation; Brooks countered that the low water was simply due to several unusually dry years, and the chancery court denied the injunction, prompting Mashburn's appeal.