Opinion ID: 1740168
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: The Willises

Text: Plaintiff Sandy Willis testified that Hope Downing, a real estate agent with Cooper & Company, showed her and her husband Scott a house in the Breckenridge subdivision, where they did not buy. In December 1994 or January 1995, Downing telephoned Sandy and told her that Cooper & Company had some houses within the Willises' price range in the Sunchase subdivision. Sandy arranged to meet Downing the next day at the Sunchase subdivision. Sandy then telephoned Scott and asked him to go by the Sunchase subdivision and look at the houses. Scott brought home fliers of the homes for sale in the Sunchase subdivision. Sandy and Scott met Downing at the Sunchase subdivision, where they walked through a house. Sandy and Scott both testified that they did not see any evidence of flooding when they visited the house they eventually purchased. They did notice debris and a hump or a berm in the backyard. Sandy and Scott contracted with the builder, Turberville, to purchase the house on lot 16, which is between the lots owned by the Lester and Woodham families. They conditioned their purchase of the house upon Turberville's leveling the backyard and clearing trash from the backyard. Sandy and Scott attended a preclosing walk-through of the house. Cooper and Turberville were present at the preclosing walk-through. At that time, Sandy and Scott asked Turberville if he could lower the berm more because they wanted to erect a fence around the backyard. Turberville, with Cooper standing next to him, stated that he could not further lower the berm because the berm controlled the water. Sandy and Scott asked if there was a water problem. Turberville stated that there was not a water problem. He explained how rainwater from the houses above their property in the Sunchase subdivision would drain in the easement. Sandy testified that Cooper agreed with Turberville's statements and said there was not a water problem. Cooper did not tell the Willises at the preclosing walk-through about the easement. Likewise, Cooper did not tell them about the water that had flowed through their backyard. On January 26, 1995, the Willises closed their purchase on the house on lot 17. Sandy testified that she did not know about the 15-foot easement across her backyard until after she and Scott bought their house. Sandy and Scott erected a wooden fence around their property. However, they had to move the back fence forward several feet because fast-flowing rainwater had lifted and loosened the fence bottom. Even after Sandy and Scott moved the fence forward further into their backyard, fast-flowing water overflowed the easement, lifted the fence, and pulled boards off the fence. Eventually fast-flowing rainwater washed away the concrete anchors of the fence posts and, on one side of the property, moved the fence into the neighbors' yard. During a March 1995 flood, the water overflowing from the easement flowed halfway up in the Willises' backyard. Sandy stated that the water sounded like a creek running. Further, according to Sandy, water ran through her backyard every day from November 1997 until January 1998. Every day from November 1997 until January 1998 the Willises' backyard smelled like a sewer or dead fish. In January 1998 water overflowed the easement again. As the water crept closer to the Willises' house, Sandy and Scott moved their cars up on a hill. The water circled the house and seeped in under the front door and the back door of the house. The water flooded the patio and washed away chairs, boilers, a barbecue grill, and a garbage can. The water filled the empty swimming pool. Sandy testified that, when her daughters went outside to get the boilers, her daughters could have been washed away by the water. The Willises had a major clean-up after the water subsided. The Willises' property flooded still again one night in March 1998. Sandy videotaped the flood. Water seeped in under the back door of Willises' house and seeped into the back foyer. Sandy and her family used towels and blankets to keep the water from seeping into any other room. The easement overflowed next on July 26, 1998. Sandy again videotaped the flood. Sandy testified that the July 1998 flood was not bad, but that the creek was out of the easement and into her backyard. The easement next flooded on September 28, 1998. The jury viewed videotapes of the March 1998 and July 1998 floods.