HOMER ADAMS, Claimant, v. STATE OF ILLINOIS, Respondent. Opanion filed Jzine 17, l S / t S . KERN AND PEARCE
Case summary
Claimant sought damages for destruction of a lespedeza crop by fire allegedly caused by negligence of state highway employees placing lighted flares near dry vegetation. The court found respondent negligent and awarded $100.00 for the value of the destroyed crop.
Cases cited: St. Louis Bridge Ry. Association vs. Schadt, 226 Ill. 409; Zuidema vs. Sanitary District of Chicago, 223 Ill. App. 138
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Headnotes
- HON. I VAN A. ELLIOTT, Attorney General, for Respondent.
- NEGLIGENCE-LIGHTED FLARES BY DIVISIOI-~OF HIGHWAYS- When lighted flares placed adjoaning u highway b y enrployees o f Divasaon of Highways m a k e State laable for damage cnanised. Where employees of t h e Division of Highways placed lighted flares adjoining a highway which ignited claimant’s field of lespedeza destroying approximately ten acres of the claimant’s crop, the respondent was negligent i n the performance of its duty and claimant was entitled to a n award.
- DAMAGES-TO GROWING cRoPs-n%eoswe of. The measure of damages to growing crops i s the value of the crops at the time when destroyed with the right of the owner to mature and harvest them a t the proper time. 0
By the complaint, which was filed on June 28, 1948, claimant alleges, in substance, that he is the owner of the property described as Northwest Qua.rter of Section Twenty-two (22) , Township Five ( 5 ) South, Range Nine (9) East of the Third Principal Meridian, White County, Illinois; that Illinois State Highway Route No. 14 runs east and west immediately adjoining said northwest quarter section on the north side thereof. That during the crops season of 1947 claimant had growing a crop of lespedeza on twenty-five acres of above described land in the northwest corner thereof, and immediately adjacent to the right-of-way of said State highway. That on October 6, 1947, while Division of Highways employees of the State of Illinois were making repairs 011 said State Highway Route No. 14 at the close of the working day, lighted flares were placed on the slope behind the gutter of the highway, in and near a heavy growth of dry vegetation. It was established by the testimony of the witnesses that a fire originated near one of the lighted flares, apparently carried by a high wind, progressed up the back slope of the right-of-way of said State highway and into the claimaiit’s field of lespedeza destroying approximately ten acres of claimant’s crop.
The Court is of the opinion that the respondent was negligent in the performance of its duty to the farming public by failing to place lighted flares in a safe place.
[*214] The claimant in his complaint and on direct and
cross-examination has introduced different figures as to
his damages sustained, but the Court is of the opinion
that the value of the growing crop was correctly set forth in the complaint.
In an action to recover for injury to growing crops, the measure of damages is the value of the crops at the time when destroyed with the right of the owner to mature and harvest them at the proper time. St. Louis Bridge R y . Association vs. Scladtx, 226 Ill. 409; and Zuidema vs. Smitary District of Chicago, 223 Ill. App. 138.
An award is therefore entered in favor of the claimant, Homer Adams, in the amount of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).