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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals rejects sewer flooding lawsuit

The Evansville Courier& Press reports today, in a story by Bryan Corbin and Bryon Rohrig:

The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled against a group of Southeast Side homeowners who sued the city of Evansville after their homes were flooded by raw sewage from overflowing sewers.

The appeals court Tuesday upheld the decision last year of a Vanderburgh County judge who ruled that the city was legally immune from the homeowners' lawsuit. In a 16-page decision, the appeals court found that the city's actions before and during times of extreme rainfall did not amount to illegally "taking" the homeowners' property.

Attorney Les Shively, who represented the six sets of homeowners in their lawsuit against the city, said they plan to appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court and might bring a separate case in federal court.

The suit was filed over backups of raw sewage onto residents' properties during extremely heavy rainstorms July 9, 2003, and July 31, 2004. Shively contends his clients can't sell their homes since they would have to disclose the sewage flooding to buyers.

"How can they? Who would buy?" Shively said. "They'd have to practically give those properties away. These folks can't do that."

The decision is Beck v. City of Evansville - see ILB summary here (2nd case).

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 22, 2006 09:26 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions