New Britain herald., 1930-10-03
Property on Pennington Avenue Involved in Legal
 Action
PAPERS TO BE SERVED
 ON OFFICIALS TODAY
Plaintiff Blames Municipality for Depreciation of Value of House on Account of Its Failure to Pro- vided Suitable Sewerage Facilities Storm in April, 1929, Said to Have Inundated Cellar.

Papers will be served this after noon on Mayor George A. Quigley, City Engineer Philip A. Merriam and City Clerk Alfred l.. Thompson in a suit against the city of New Brit ain, brought by George A. Riley, owner of property on Pennington avenue, near the junction of Beaver street and Washington street, in which damages of s10,000 is claimed because of alleged failure of the city to keep a stor msewer opening clear ed and allowing water to settle in the basement of the property. caus- ing ~an alleged depreciation in its value and preventing it's rental Ac- ton is being brought through the law firm of Dunn & Googel, Samuel Googel tagging the action in the ab- sence of Attorney David L. Dunn, who is coaching the University of Vermont football team.
 According to the complaint, MT. Riley was the owner of the property, listed as Nos. 161-163 Beaver street, but actually located on Pennington avenue, although the Beaver street numbers are still on the house. Bea- yer street ends~on the property next south from the Riley property.
 Build Culvert on Property |,
 On December 30, 1926, culvert 15O feet long was built by MT. Riley, according to plans made by the city engineers office, the culvert running through the property and being built to make a new passage for storm waters, so that the house mentioned in the suit could be erected on the site where a ditch formerly was To- Cated. The culvert cost MT. Riley more than s3,500 and after the floor of the culvert was laid, it was found that there was an error in the plans. the floor not being on an even level all the way and liable to cause con- gestion by accumulation of debris in the low places.
 The opening in the culvert was AZ inches and this would have been sufficient to carry off all storm water if the opening were kept cleared. The opening, in fact, was sufficient, until the month of April. 1929. when, be- cause of the rubbish allowed to ac- cumulate, and during heavy storm, the water could not enter the culvert> and the basement of the Riley prop erty was flooded to a depth of sev- eral feet, the plaintiff alleges.
 Claim Negligence by City
 In April, 1928, the board of finance authorized an appropriation by the city to build storm sewer culvert through the section in which the Riley property'is located, but after work of a few weeks, the project was abandoned. Because of the failure to complete this job. the culvert built by MT. Riley. with it's open end at the inlet was covered with dump refuse, rubbish and other materials so that on April 1. 1929, 30 inches of the AZ inches was filled, allowing but 12 inches of space for water to flow through. Every storm since then has resulted in an overflow into the basement of the house own- ed by Mir. Riley, he claims, and as a consequence he has been unable to keep tenants in the house. He has tried to sell the property, but the conditions surrounding the sewer have prevented sale, he alleges.
 MT. Riley claims $10,00O damages to compensate him for his losses in rents, loss in profit on sale of the 7 property. cost of building the culvert and court costs. The action is re- turnable in the superior court in Hartford on the first Tuesday in Mo- S,or,,