Heins Implement Co. v. Missouri Highway & Transportation Commission

Heins Implement Company and other landowners (plaintiffs) along Wakenda Creek experienced only brief, harmless flooding during storms before the Missouri Highway & Transportation Commission (MHTC) (defendant) built a raised highway bypass and culvert nearby. The culvert proved insufficient to drain the bypass, causing the bypass to act as a dam and flood the plaintiffs' buildings, causing significant damage. A jury awarded the plaintiffs damages on an inverse-condemnation theory, but the trial court granted MHTC judgment notwithstanding the verdict based on the traditional common-enemy doctrine. Plaintiffs appealed.