Carson v. City of Prichard

• Citation: 709 So.2d 1199
• Parties: James W. CARSON, et al. v. CITY OF PRICHARD and the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Prichard. The WATER WORKS AND SEWER BOARD OF the CITY OF PRICHARD v. James W. CARSON, et al. 1951561, 1951568.
• Decision Date: 30 January 1998
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 1199

709 So.2d 1199

James W. CARSON, et al. v. CITY OF PRICHARD and the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Prichard.

The WATER WORKS AND SEWER BOARD OF the CITY OF PRICHARD v. James W. CARSON, et al.

1951561, 1951568.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Jan. 30, 1998.

Herndon Inge III and John W. Parker, Mobile, for appellants/cross appellees.

Gregory L. Harris of Figures, Jackson & Harris, P.C., Mobile, for appellee/cross appellant City of Prichard.

Philip H. Partridge, Craig W. Goolsby, and Thomas H. Nolan of Brown, Hudgens, P.C., Mobile, for appellee/cross appellant Board of Water & Sewer Comm'rs for City of Prichard.

SHORES, Justice.

Thirteen residents of the City of Prichard and the estate of a deceased resident ¹ sued the City and the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Prichard ("Board") for damages, based on harm they had suffered as a result of a defect in the sanitary sewer system operated by the Board; that defect causes sewage to overflow into their yards and homes after periods of heavy rain. ² The trial court entered a summary judgment for the City of Prichard, and the case proceeded solely against the Board. A jury returned a verdict holding the Board liable for its failure to correct the problem of the overflowing sewage and awarding damages to each plaintiff. The trial judge's order entered following his post-verdict review of the damages award, conducted pursuant to Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So.2d 1374 (Ala.1986), sets forth the procedural history of the case and the damages awarded by the jury:

"Procedural History

"This complaint was filed by various residents of the West Highland Avenue area on December 22, 1995. It sought recovery against the City of Prichard and the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners of the City of Prichard on various theories, including negligence, wantonness, and trespass related to discharge from the sewer system both inside and outside of their homes.

"Defendant City of Prichard's Motion for Summary Judgment was granted on January 22, 1996, and the case proceeded to trial on January 29, 1996, against the sole [remaining] Defendant, the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners of the City of Prichard (hereinafter, 'Board'). On February 2, 1996, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the fourteen ... plaintiffs and against the Board in the amounts as follows:

                                           Mental       Property
                   Plaintiff               Anguish      Damages       Punitive
                James W. Carson            $35,000      $34,800       $35,000
                Estate of James Davis      $     0      $     0       $35,000
                Estelle McDaniel           $20,000       $7,650       $35,000
                Johnnie Davis              $ 2,500      $     0       $35,000
                Randolph Singleton         $25,000      $12,540       $35,000
                Daisy Lee Robinson         $35,000      $24,750       $35,000
                L. T. Vaughn               $35,000      $12,470       $35,000
                Emanual Jackson            $     0      $ 5,490       $35,000
                                           Mental       Property
                 Plaintiff                 Anguish      Damages       Punitive
                Ella Seales                $35,000      $20,000       $35,000
                Annette Austin             $20,000      $10,800       $35,000
                Cleveland Hubbard          $25,000      $14,450       $35,000
                Delfrey Williams           $20,000      $ 8,700       $35,000
                Anthony France             $15,000      $11,480       $35,000
                Lennell Gaillard           $15,000      $16,700       $35,000
                ----------
                

"In total, Plaintiffs' damages [awarded by the jury] reached $282,500 in mental anguish damages, $179,830 in [compensation for property damage], and $490,000 in punitive damages, for a total verdict of $942,330."

After conducting a hearing pursuant to Hammond v. City of Gadsden, the trial judge ordered a remittitur of each of the 14 punitive damages awards to $5,000 each. He also reduced the total award for property damage to $100,000. This resulted in a judgment awarding a total of $282,500 in damages for mental anguish, a total of $100,000 for property damage, and a total of $70,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $452,500 in damages.

The plaintiffs appeal, contending that the trial court erred in capping the property damage award at $100,000 and in ordering a remittitur of punitive damages from $35,000 per plaintiff to $5,000 per plaintiff. The residents also question the summary judgment for the City of Prichard. The Board cross appeals, contending, first, that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the sewage-overflow damage was proximately caused by the Board, and, second, that the Board, as an agency performing a governmental function for the City of Prichard, is not liable for punitive damages, relying on § 6-11-26, Ala.Code 1975.

I.

We first consider the Board's contention that the residents failed to prove that the Board breached any duty or that the Board's breach of any duty was the proximate cause of the harm suffered by the residents. The Board contends that the residents' problems were caused by the inflow and infiltration of surface water into the sewage system through "open laterals" on private property. Although the Board admits that it has a duty to provide water and sewer service to the people in the affected areas, it does not agree that the residents proved that the problems in the sewer service were a result of the Board's action or inaction. The Board argues that the court should have granted its motions for a directed verdict made at the close of the residents' case and again at the close of all of the evidence, and, having denied those motions, should have granted its motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. ³

The plaintiffs' claims were based upon negligence, liability for which must be based on proof 1) that the defendant undertook the duty to maintain a sewer system, 2) that it negligently discharged that duty, and 3) that the plaintiffs suffered harm or loss as a result of the defendant's negligence. Water Works & Sewer Board of the Town of Ardmore v. Wales, 533 So.2d 212 (Ala.1988), citing Sisco v. City of Huntsville, 220 Ala. 59, 60, 124 So. 95 (1929). In this case the alleged negligence was in the Board's failure to properly operate and maintain the sewer system. There was ample evidence from which the jury could have determined that the Board negligently designed and/or maintained the sewer system. The residents presented evidence that they had suffered, and continued to suffer, from the overflow of raw sewage into their yards and homes after periods of heavy rain. They alleged various types of injury, including mental anguish, emotional distress, annoyance, and inconvenience. All of them complained that the overflow caused debris and waste from the sewer system to enter their yards. One plaintiff testified that he had had snakes in his house as a result of the sewage overflow. The sewage overflowed from manholes in the street. According to the residents, the odor from the sewage overflow was so great that they could not eat in their homes and were embarrassed to have visitors. The residents complained to the Board's system superintendent. He commissioned an engineer to study the problem, but the Board was slow to act on the engineer's recommendations. According to the residents, the Board's commissioner "kept removing [the sewer discharge problem] from the Board's agenda," even though the Board knew the problem was causing a health hazard.

Larson D. Edge, a real estate appraiser, testifying as an expert witness, testified that "the [plaintiffs'] houses have no market appeal at all." He stated:

"These houses suffer from what you call in the appraisal business economic obsolescence or external obsolescence. It's things which are outside the property but influence the value of the property. The property owners can't do anything about the flooding so that influences their property. It has an adverse affect on their property. It's economic obsolescence. It depreciates their property."

He gave as an example the house at 522 Messer Street, which he values at $24,500. He stated that, because the house has had sewage in it several times, "there's a stigma attached to that property" and "I don't think the house has any value." As for the house at 530 Messer, he stated that the value of the house had been $21,500, but the value now is $2,600, a loss of $18,900 in value due to the flooding by sewage. Edge testified that 13 of the plaintiffs had experienced a loss in the value of their property, the smallest loss being $5,000 and the highest being $35,000.

" 'A strong presumption of correctness attaches to a jury verdict in Alabama, if the verdict passes the "sufficiency test" presented by motions for directed verdict and JNOV. Christiansen v. Hall, 567 So.2d 1338, 1341 (Ala.1990); Alpine Bay Resorts, Inc. v. Wyatt, 539 So.2d 160 (Ala.1988). This presumption of correctness is further strengthened by a trial court's denial of a motion for new trial. Christiansen, 567 So.2d at 1341. Denying a motion for new trial is within the sound discretion of the trial court. See, Hill v. Cherry, 379 So.2d 590 (Ala.1980). This Court will not reverse a judgment based on a jury verdict on a sufficiency-of-the-evidence basis unless the evidence, when viewed in a light most favorable to the nonmovant, shows that the verdict was "plainly and palpably wrong and unjust." Christiansen, 567 So.2d at 1341.' "

American Nat'l Fire Ins. Co. v. Hughes, 624 So.2d 1362, 1367 (Ala.1993) (quoting Attalla Golf & Country Club, Inc. v. Harris, 601 So.2d 965, 970 (Ala.1992)). Having reviewed the record in this case, we cannot say that the verdict was plainly and palpably wrong and unjust. There was substantial evidence from which the jury could find that the Board had been negligent and that the plaintiffs had suffered damage as a result of the Board's negligence.

II.

We next consider whether the trial court erred in holding that the Board was entitled, as a matter of law, to have the jury...