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

Heading: municipal liability for privately constructed components of sewer system

Text: Municipalities in Kentucky are not immune from tort liability, except in the limited circumstances when they are exercising legislative or judicial or quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial functions. See Gas Service Co., Inc. v. City of London, Ky., 687 S.W.2d 144 (1985); Haney v. City of Lexington, Ky., 386 S.W.2d 738 (1964); Ashby v. City of Louisville, Ky.App., 841 S.W.2d 184 (1992). In delineating what constitutes legislative action, this Court has long held that a municipality's decision to establish or open a sewer system is a legislative function entitled to immunity protection. City of Maysville v. Brooks, 145 Ky. 526, 140 S.W. 665, 668 (1911). However, once a municipality establishes or opens a sewer, it has a ministerial duty to non-negligently construct, maintain, and repair the sewer system. Ibid. Further, a municipality has the same duty of care to properly maintain and repair any sewer system where the municipality has taken possession of and used it [the sewer] for municipal purposes. Maysville v. Brooks, 140 S.W. at 667. Thus, even if a municipality did not originally construct a sewer system, if it uses a sewer system for municipal purposes, the municipality's duty to its inhabitants [is] the same as if the sewer had been originally constructed by the municipality. Ibid. J.C. drowned in a sewer system which was cobbled together over the years by various construction efforts of both private and municipal entities. The City argues that since it did not construct the entire sewer system it cannot be liable, especially since J.C. was sucked into the sewer system at the headwall located on Potts' property. The Court of Appeals agreed, holding (with no supporting authority) that [t]he City's liability cannot extend beyond the portions of the drainage system which lie within its right-of way. We disagree and hold that reliance on location or right-of-way alone is not the proper standard for determining municipal liability in situations where sewer systems have both publicly and privately built components. The proper legal standard for determining municipal liability for the maintenance and repair of sewer systems that are partially located on private property or partially built by private parties is whether the municipality, through use or possession, has converted the private discharge system into a public sewer. Maysville v. Brooks, 140 S.W. at 667; see also Town of Central Covington v. Beiser, 122 Ky. 715, 92 S.W. 973 (1906) and Price Brothers v. City of Dawson Springs, 190 Ky. 349, 227 S.W. 470 (1921). The question of duty is a matter of law. Green v. Hollingsworth, 35 Ky. 173, 174, 5 Dana 173, 174 (1837). Here, by structurally tying the private system into the public system, the City acquired a duty to properly maintain and repair the sewer system as a whole.