## Facts

- Cypress Creek flowed through land owned by L. Donald Debnam and Joyce Berry Debnam.
- The Debnams built a dam, earthen works, and other structures in or near the creek to block or restrict the flow of water where the creek entered their property.
- The obstructions caused water that ordinarily flowed through Cypress Creek to back up and flood land upstream from the Debnams’ property.
- The Richland Parish Police Jury and numerous upstream landowners sued the Debnams seeking injunctive relief requiring removal of the dam and related obstructions.
- At the evidentiary hearing, the plaintiffs presented evidence supporting a finding that the Debnams’ obstructions caused substantial flooding and damage to upstream owners.
- The trial court granted a preliminary injunction ordering the Debnams to remove the obstructions.
- The Debnams appealed the issuance of the preliminary injunction.

## Issues

1. Whether the plaintiffs made a sufficient showing to obtain a preliminary injunction compelling removal of the Debnams’ dam and related creek obstructions.
2. Whether the evidence supported a finding that the Debnams’ structures unlawfully interfered with natural drainage and caused flooding upstream.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s preliminary injunction ordering the Debnams to remove the obstructions from Cypress Creek.
- The appellate court rejected the Debnams’ challenge to the trial court’s determination that the plaintiffs met the requirements for preliminary injunctive relief.

## Legal Principles

- Louisiana law recognizes a natural servitude of drainage: water running naturally from higher land to lower land creates a servitude burdening the lower (servient) estate for the benefit of the higher (dominant) estate.
- The servient-estate owner may not construct works that block or impede the natural flow of surface waters to the injury of the dominant estate.
- Injunctive relief, including a mandatory injunction ordering removal of an obstruction, is an available remedy when a party shows a likely right to relief and an ongoing interference with a real property right such as natural drainage.
- Appellate review of a preliminary injunction is deferential; the trial court’s ruling will be upheld absent an abuse of discretion based on the record made at the injunction hearing.

## Conclusion

The court upheld a preliminary injunction requiring the Debnams to remove a dam and related structures they built in Cypress Creek because the record supported the trial court’s finding that the obstructions backed up water, interfered with natural drainage, and caused substantial flooding and damage to upstream landowners and interests represented by the Richland Parish Police Jury.


Richland Police Jury v. Debnam, 92 So. 3d 487 (2012)