Court Opinion

ID: 9851098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:07:20.340111+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:48.724169
License: Public Domain

Smith, Judge,
dissenting.
I concur in Divisions 2 and 3 of the majority opinion. I must respectfully dissent from Division 1, because I do not agree that the Health Department created or maintained a nuisance. The Health Department may have been negligent in permitting Rice to build on unsuitable property, but in my view, its actions are more similar to the governmental act of approving a construction project that increases surface water. In Fulton County v. Wheaton, 252 Ga. 49, 50 (1) (310 SE2d 910) (1984), the Supreme Court held that the sole act of approving a construction project that leads to increased surface water runoff cannot impose liability for creating or maintaining a nuisance. It is true that when the governmental body itself negligently constructs or undertakes to maintain a sewer or drainage system that causes repeated flooding, a continuing, abatable nuisance is *370established for which the governmental body may be liable. Hibbs v. City of Riverdale, 267 Ga. 337, 338 (478 SE2d 121) (1996).
Decided July 15, 1999
Reconsideration denied July 29, 1999
Fricks, Dell & Lee, Robert A. Fricks, James E. Lee II, for appellants.
Sell & Melton, Jeffrey B. Hanson, for appellees.
Here, however, the Health Department did not own the drainage system. “In general, . . . the owner of the property from which the nuisance emanates is the proper defendant in an action for damages flowing from the creation or maintenance of a nuisance. See generally OCGA § 41-1-5.” McLendon & Cox v. Roberts, 197 Ga. App. 478 (398 SE2d 579) (1990). Moreover, the Health Department did not construct the septic tank or the house, did not have a duty to maintain it, and did not undertake to maintain it. It did offer advice and assistance, but as the majority acknowledges, Rice made alterations to the system without the knowledge, assistance, or approval of the Health Department. If, in fact, a nuisance was created, Fielder must look to Rice for redress.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Johnson and Judge Ellington join in this dissent.