Court Opinion

ID: 9853545
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:50:03.008296+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:50.895689
License: Public Domain

ELLETT, Chief Justice
(dissenting):
When plaintiff bought their land the storm drain was already in place.
Section 63-30-9, U.C.A., 1953, provides that governmental immunity is not waived for latent defective conditions. According to Webster’s New International Dictionary the word latent is defined as follows: “To lie hid or concealed. Not visible or apparent; hidden, dormant.”
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines latent defect thus: “A defect or blemish in any article sold, known to the seller but not apparent to the purchaser, and which cannot be discovered by mere observation, which not being discoverable from mere observation, was concealed from the purchaser.”
The drain was a latent defect and under the law, sovereign immunity not being waived, the plaintiffs cannot recover. I would reverse the judgment.