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Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Inland Power, Foremost Pump exonerated
ODESSA — An irrigation contractor and Inland Power and Light Co. were exonerated last week by a jury in a civil lawsuit over failed systems.
After a five-day trial and four hours of deliberations, a Lincoln County Superior Court jury in Davenport found in favor of Inland Power and Light Co.; not-for-profit Mitchell, Lewis and Staver Co.; and Foremost Pump and Well Services.
The two companies and the not-for-profit agency were defendants in a lawsuit filed by Walter Family Grain Growers Inc., owned by Colley Walter.
Walter had sued claiming a breach of contract, failure to uphold implied warranties and negligence.
Jurors in the case were Shirley DeVore, Austin Cools, Christopher Goddard, Steve McLachlan, Terry Smith, Brenden Boka, Brian Pritchard, Louise McAllister, Michael Graham, James Bernthal, Daniel Krause and Christerpher Wilken.
They found there had been no negligence on the part of the defendants.
Walter filed suit Feb. 10, 2017, after the family enterprise suffered crop and monetary damages when irrigation equipment failed on land it leases and farms in Lincoln County.
Court records show Foremost Pump and Well, owned by Roy M. Jensen, had employees install the irrigation equipment in March and April of 2014.
Mitchell, Lewis and Staver Co., a not-for-profit based in Oregon that works with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service program, was involved in installing a variable frequency irrigation pump in the system.
On May 14, 2015, the pump failed and was unable to be repaired and brought back online until May 27, records show. By that time, the crop had already sustained damage due to a lack of water.
The lawsuit alleged defective equipment had been installed, records show. The lawsuit also claimed excessive voltage supplied by Inland Power, owned by Chad Jensen, contributed to burning out electrical components, including a relay and other parts.
On Aug. 1, 2015, the system failed again and couldn’t be restarted until Aug. 7, 2015, causing more water deprivation damage.
The lawsuit alleged the replacement pump had been improperly grounded, causing the failure.
Without water, crops failed and the farmer filed a lawsuit seeking damages for the costs to plant and grow alfalfa on two circles in the 2015 crop year, as well as costs to grow Timothy hay on a third circle, records show.
The farmer also asked for damages to cover the loss of profits and loss of lease of the property due to the failed crops. He also sued for lost profits through th remainder of the lease, the 2019 crop year.
But the jury did not find there had been a breach of contract, nor had there been negligence.
Roger Harnack is owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. An award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher who grew up in Eastern Washington, he's one of only two Washington state journalists ever to receive the international Golden Quill for editorial/commentary writing. Roger is committed to preserving local media, and along with it, a local voice for Eastern Washington.
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