JOHN SHEPHERD v. THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Case summary

Claimant sought $600 for damage to his land caused by a state-built dam on the Illinois River. The court rejected the claim because the petition was not filed within two years after the cause of action accrued, as required by the statute of limitations.

Claim type: Property Damage

Cases cited: William H. Fairbanks for the use of the First National Bank of Lacon v. The State of Illinois

AI-generated summary from the opinion text — may contain errors. The opinion text and PDF above are the official record.

Headnotes

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-petition must be filed within two years.

JOHN SHEPHERD

v.

THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Opinion filed January 7, 1890.

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-petition must be filed within two years.

A petition not having been filed within two years after cause of action accrued, is barred by statute of limitations.

The claimant in this case filed his petition with the Auditor of Public Accounts on the 1st day of May, 1889.

Petition avers among other things that the petitioner is the owner of the northwest quarter (N. W. ¼) of the southeast quarter (S. E. ¼) of section 30, township 8, north, range 8 east of the 4th P. M., containing 40 acres; that by reason of the construction of the dam in the Illinois river near Copperas Creek by the authority of the State of Illinois, the water in said river has been permanently raised, thereby damaging claimant's land to the sum of $600.

We have not investigated the merits of this claim for the reason that in our opinion the claim is barred by the statute of limitations. The dam in the river was closed in October, 1877, which would fix the time when the cause of action accrued as we have before decided in the case of William H. Fairbanks for the use of the First National Bank of Lacon v. The State of Illinois.

This petition not having been filed within two years [*35] after the cause of action accrued, would be barred by the statute of limitations.

The conclusion is that the claim is barred by the statute of limitations and is, for that reason, rejected.