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A Blog about Real Estate, How it Can Be Damaged, and Disputes Over its Transfer

This blog is a personal blog written to discuss legal issues affecting Georgia property, and how it is damaged, transferred, and fought over. I write this partly to keep abreast of the law, and partly to offer a forum for my writing. In order to find content, I often analyze Georgia Supreme Court decisions. I try to update this blog as I can, but writing is a time consuming process.

Monday, March 10, 2014

County Liability for Storm Water Run from Streets

In Gwinnett County, Georgia v. McManus, Case No. S13A1878 (March 3, 2014), the Georgia Supreme Court recently upheld the grant of an order by the Gwinnett County Superior Court requiring Gwinnett County to stop directing excessive storm water runoff from a road on to homeowners' private property.   The Court held that the court's preliminary injunction was correctly entered by the lower court.

In the McManus case, the County contended that it owned an easement to drain water from a temporary detention pond and sediment basin on to the homeowners' property.  However, the court held this easement right did not grant the County anything but a right to direct water through the easement, and did not grant the County the right to damage the property, or direct the drainage of sediment filled storm water outside of the drainage.