Opinion ID: 1881123
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: municipality's ministerial duty to maintain sewer systems

Text: If a municipality builds a sewer system, which diverts the natural flow of water, the municipality has a duty to ensure that the sewer system can handle runoff from reasonably expected ordinary rainfalls. Ordinary rainfalls are such heavy rainfalls as may reasonably be expected in the given locality. Price v. Dawson Springs, 227 S.W. at 472 (citation omitted). Determination of ordinary rainfall is a jury question: more specifically, it is a fact question for the jury whether, on the day J.C. drowned, the City experienced runoff that might be reasonably expected from ordinary rainfall in the Mt. Sterling area. The amount of runoff and capacity needs of a sewer system change over time depending on a municipality's population growth and accompanying land development. Thus, even if the City's culvert was sufficient to handle existing water flow in the 1930's and 40's, the City had a duty to exercise ordinary care and skill to keep it in condition to carry off the water collected thereby from such rainfalls as may be reasonably expected to occur in the neighborhood to be drained by such a sewer. Louisville v. Norris, 111 Ky. 903, 64 S.W. 958, 959 (1901) (citations omitted); see also Town of Wingo v. Rhodes, 234 Ky. 385, 28 S.W.2d 465, 467 (1930) and Louisville v. O'Malley, Ky., 53 S.W. 287 (1899). It is a jury question whether the City met this duty to properly maintain its 1930's sewer system so that it could function safely in the 1990's. In Price v. Dawson Springs, supra, the sewer system in question was located on private property and maintained by private owners, except where it crossed a public street. Price v. Dawson Springs, 227 S.W. at 471. When one private landowner sought to alter the sewer configuration on his property, the City of Dawson Springs passed a resolution in support of said change. The Price court held that this municipal resolution alone was sufficient to establish municipal control of the sewer and for the City of Dawson Springs to be held liable for any negligent failure to properly maintain the sewer. In Town of Central Covington v. Beiser, supra , private landowners constructed a drainpipe across a public alley. Later, the town repaired the alley, but did not alter the drainpipe in any way. The Covington court held: When it [the town] began to improve the alley it adopted the work which had been done by the interested parties and constructed the alley over the drainpipe, thus adopting and making it [the drainpipe] a part of the city's improvement of the alley. The drainpipe thereby became as much a part of the improvement of the alley, as if the city had placed it there. Thereafter it was the duty of the city to maintain the drainpipe under the alley and to see that it was kept open. Covington v. Beiser, 92 S.W. at 974. Here, the City built catch basins which drained floodwater into the privately built holding chambers on the west side of the culvert. By tapping into the privately built chambers and making direct use of a private system to handle water from the city catch basins, the City adopted the privately built system as part of the public sewer system and acquired a duty to maintain and repair the same in a non-negligent manner. Whether the City met this duty in a non-negligent manner is a question of fact for the jury. Finally, the City argues that any flooding caused by the crushed catch basin pipe did not contribute to the floodwaters at the back of Potts' property. However, it is a question of fact for the jury to determine where the flooding water came from: the crushed catch basin, the culvert, or the pipes on Potts' and/or the Mortons' property. Toebbe v. City of Covington, 145 Ky. 763, 141 S.W. 421, 422 (1911). Summary judgment was not appropriate against the City.