Fed up with flooding on their land during rainstorms, Suffolk County property owners filed suit against the owners and developers of the neighboring golf club, whose water drainage system they alleged was causing the flooding. They also named various Town defendants in their lawsuit, including the Highway Department, the Planning Department, and the Town itself, for their roles in approving the allegedly faulty drainage system. With holes in the plaintiffs’ case immediately apparent to the CMM Municipal Liability team, we got to work.
CMM’s team, led by Senior Partner and Municipal Liability Chair Scott Middleton and Associate Richard DeMaio, with support from Paralegal Dominique Berberich, moved for summary judgment (essentially, a request that the Court dismiss the case because there are no facts at issue). CMM successfully presented evidence and testimony from a Town consulting engineer that the drainage plan met the standards of the Town Code. Furthermore, the team demonstrated that the plaintiffs did not timely file notices of claim (required to be filed prior to bringing a lawsuit against a municipal entity in New York) for each instance of flooding, nor did the plaintiffs allege any specific date to identify when the flooding occurred.
Thanks to CMM’s hard work, the Court granted the Town’s motion for dismissal of the complaint. Learn more about our municipal liability practice group here.