Court Opinion

ID: 9851097
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:07:20.337697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:48.594585
License: Public Domain

Blackburn, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
While I agree with the outcome set forth in the majority’s opinion, I write separately to point out several elements of its analysis with which I cannot agree.
The majority concludes that: “Thus, prior to the approval the Health Department knew of the probable potential problem, but yielded to pressure to allow substandard septic tank conditions to be approved nonetheless.” Whether the septic tank conditions were substandard, however, remains a question of fact for a jury’s considera*369tion. The record does not authorize the majority’s conclusion.
The majority focuses sole blame for the continuation of the nuisance on the Health Department. It ignores the knowledge which Fielder had of the condition and his failure to correct and eliminate the septic tank problems. Assuming that Fielder was, in fact, barred from proceeding against Rice, a question which is not presently before us, he was still fully aware of the warranty period during which he could compel Rice to correct the septic tank problems on his property. He was on notice that the time in which to fix the problem was limited. Fielder was subject to Health Department regulations and was not entitled to wait for others to bring his property into compliance with such regulations. He had the option of correcting the problem and seeking legal redress thereafter.
This case shares a number of similarities with Gantt v. Bennett, 231 Ga. App. 238, 242-245 (499 SE2d 75) (1998). In Gantt, this Court affirmed a jury’s finding of fraud against the Forsyth County Health Department based on an inspector’s approval of a septic tank system without complying with county regulations and without completing an on-site inspection of the system before it was covered with dirt. Here, the facts, if a jury so finds, are even more egregious, as the Health Department had completed an initial inspection which belied the use of the subject septic system which was installed after a subsequent inspection. This raises a jury question as to the appropriateness of the system itself, and of the conduct of the Health Department in its inspection and regulation of the septic system installed on Fielder’s property. If the county’s nonfeasance in Gantt supported an action against a county health department, the possible misfeasance in this case should as well. The existence of a fact issue in this case precludes the grant of summary judgment to the Health Department on Fielder’s nuisance claim.