Westland Skating Center, Inc. v. Gus Machado Buick, Inc.

Surface water naturally flowed from Westland's (plaintiff) higher-elevation skating-center parcel onto the lower-elevation parcel later owned by Machado (defendant); after the skating center's construction caused flooding on the lower parcel, the lower owner built a dam-like wall that then caused water to back up and flood the skating rink during subsequent storms, eventually forcing its closure. Westland sued for damages and to remove the wall; the trial court's partial summary judgment (declaring the lower parcel a servient tenement obligated to accept all surface water) led the jury to find for Westland, but the intermediate appellate court reversed under Florida's traditional civil-law rule.

Whether a landowner may alter the flow of surface waters on his land without liability so long as the alteration is reasonable.