HB 1110 – Public Employee Liability for Poor Drainage

I don’t think I like HB 1110 from Rep. Ruppell concerning public employee liability for poor drainage. It states:

A governmental entity or an employee of a governmental entity acting within the scope of the employee’s employment is liable for a loss resulting from the runoff or discharge of liquids:
(1) from real property that is:
(A) located within the boundaries of the governmental entity;
(B) owned by a person other than the person incurring the loss; and
(C) used for an industrial or a commercial purpose; and
(2) onto the surface of a road, a street, an alley, or another public way;
if the failure of the governmental entity or employee to provide adequate drainage for the liquids constitutes gross negligence,

So, if you have problems with your drainage, you can bring suit against the various governmental entities in your area if discharge from commercial property within the jurisdiction also crosses the surface of a street at some point (not necessarily related to your property under the language of the statute). You just have to allege that a government employee was “grossly negligent” in some respect — presumably for issuing a building permit or other permit.

Instead of the current situation where government tries to stop drainage problems before development but where one property owner remains liable for damage caused to another property owner; the government would in effect become guarantor of drainage in situations where you can get a “gross negligence” allegation past a judge and get a jury sympathetic enough to a property owner to find the government “grossly negligent.”