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Thursday, April 16, 2009
Ind. Decisions - Bloomington utilities not immune from liability
Yesterday's Court of Appeals decision in the case of City of Bloomington Utilities Department v. Misty Walter, Micky Day, et al, is the subject of a story today ($$) in the Bloomington Herald-Times reported by Mercedes Rodriguez:
Owners and tenants of a rental home that was flooded with 300 gallons of sewage can ask for their day in court against City of Bloomington Utilities.An Indiana Court of Appeals ruling handed down Wednesday says CBU was not immune from liability in the incident, which happened in 2005 at a home on Hillside Drive owned by Hernan and Leslie Cadavid. According to court documents, a mass of tree roots and grease inside a sewer pipe are suspected to have caused raw sewage to flow into a ground-level apartment inside in the home. One of the tenants, Misty Walter, told the H-T in 2006 that the flood cost her $30,000 in lost possessions and wages, and that she and fellow tenant Micky Day were homeless for a month afterward.
Court documents say by the time the blockage had been cleared, “the property within the apartment had been severely damaged by sewage.”
The city of Bloomington’s legal department represents the utility. Corporation Counsel Kevin Robling said they would take some time to analyze the decision “and then we’re going to decide whether to appeal the decision to the Indiana Supreme Court or go to trial.”
John Shean, one of the attorneys for the Cadavids, Walter and Day, says the ruling is “a good victory for normal folks, just regular people. And we hope that it lets people know that they do have some rights.”
CBU flushes the city’s sewer pipes yearly and had equipment that can cut tangles of tree roots out from the inside of pipes. Shean says city utilities knew before the incident that the pipe in question had root blockages.
The original complaint was filed on March 21, 2007. CBU asked for a summary judgement in its favor and was denied. The utility held that the decisions it made as a government entity were immune from liability. The appeals court found that CBU’s pipe cleaning procedures were actions in which employees would “exercise professional judgment,” and could be held liable.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 16, 2009 11:04 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions