At page 20 Determining quasi judicial nature of municipal sewer duties6 citing cases
- Watt v. Cnty. of Albany, 140 A.D.3d 1260 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 2016).publishedDecisions “ ‘determining when and where [drainage ditches] shall be built, of what size and at what level, are of a quasi judicial nature, involving the exercise of deliberate judgment and large discretion . . . [which] is not subject to r…
- Middleton v. Town of Salina, 108 A.D.3d 1052 (N.Y. App. Div. 4th Dep't 2013).published Thus, it has long been the rule that “[t]he duties of the municipal authorities in . . . determining when and where sewers shall be built, of what size and at what level, are of a quasi judicial nature, involving the exercise of deliberate…
- Nandlal v. City of New York, 66 A.D.2d 653 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep't 2009).publishedFurthermore, contrary to the appellants’ contention, the City and the DEP failed to establish that they were immune from liability as governmen tal actors, since, under the circumstances here, they were performing a proprietary function as…
- Cunningham v. City of Chesapeake, No. 040002 (Va. Nov. 5, 2004).publishedStansbury, 116 Va. at 209 , 81 S.E. at 27 (citing Johnston, 118 U.S. 19, 20-21 (1886)).
- Middleton, John J. v. Town of Salina, No. CA 12-02364 (N.Y. App. Div. 4th Dep't July 5, 2013).published
At page 21 “the duties of the municipal authorities in . . . determining when and where sewers shall be built, of what size and at what level, are of a quasi judicial nature, involving the exercise of deliberate judgment and large discretion”0 citing cases
Other citing cases
- Keith & Jackie Lorman, Charles & Melissa Gallagher, & Daniel & Alicia Daly v. City of Rutland, 2018 VT 64, 193 A.3d 1174.published
- Northrup v. Witkowski, 210 A.3d 29 (Conn. 2019).published
- Dist. of Columbia v. Pace, 498 A.2d 226 (D.C. 1985).published
- Pennsylvania RR Co. v. United States, 124 F. Supp. 52 (D.N.J. 1954).published
- Somerset Seafood Co. v. United States, 193 F.2d 631 (4th Cir. 1951).published
- Dist. of Columbia v. Tyrrell, 41 App. D.C. 463 (D.C. Cir. 1914).published
- McCord v. City of Pueblo, 5 Colo. App. 48 (Colo. Ct. App. 1894).published
- Walen v. United States of Am., No. 2015-1718, 2019 WL 4261160 (D.D.C. Sept. 9, 2019).published
v.
District of Columbia
after stating the case as above reported, delivered the opinion of the court.
The duties of the municipal authorities, in adopting a general plan of drainage, and determining when and where sewers shall[*21] be built, of what size and at what level, are of a quasi judicial nature, involving the exercise of deliberate judgment and large discretion, and depending upon considerations affecting the public health and general convenience throughout an extensive territory; and the exercise of such judgment and discretion, in the selection and adoption of the general plan or-system of drainage, is not subject to revision by a court or jury in a private action for not sufficiently draining a particular lot of land. But the construction and repair of sewers, according to the general plan so adopted, are simply ministerial duties; and for any negligence in so constructing a sewer, or keeping it in repair, the municipality which has constructed and owns the sewer may be sued by a person whose property is thereby injured.
The principal decisions upon the subject are collected in the briefs of counsel, and generally, if not uniformly, support these propositions. The leading authorities are the judgments of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, delivered by Mr. Justice Hoar, in Child v. Boston, 4 Allen, 41, 51-53, and of the Court of Appeals of New York, delivered by Chief Justice Denio, in Mills v. Brooklyn, 32 N. Y. 489, 495-500.
In Barnes v. District of Columbia, 91 U. S. 540, 556, it was said that in Rochester White Lead Co. v. Rochester, 3 N. Y. 463, “ the city was held liable because it constructed a sewer which was not of sufficient capacity to carry off the water draining into it. The work was well done; but the adoption and carrying out of the plan was held to be an act of negligence.” But this was clearly a mistake; for in the Rochester Case the fact was distinctly found that the insufficiency of the culvert to carry off the water was owing, not merely to the smallness of its size, but to “ the want of skill in its construction;” 3 N. Y. 465; and the case was distinguished on that ground in Mills v. Brooklyn, 32 N. Y. 499. The question in judgment in Barnes v. District of Columbia, as well as in Weightman v. Washington, 1 Black, 39, was of municipal liability, not for an injury to property by a sewer, but for a personal injury to a traveller by a want of repair in the highway, a question not now before us. In Boston v. Syracuse, 36 N. Y.[*22] 54, also cited, for the plaintiff, the ground of action was not the plan of constructing the sewer, but the neglect to keep it in repair.
In the present case, the only evidence offered by the plaintiff, 'which was excluded by the court, was evidence of what, in the case of a freshet, or of a great fall of rain, would be the consequence of the difference in level between the sewer in question and another sewer connecting with it; and this evidence, as the plaintiff’s counsel avowed, was offered “ with the view of showing that the plan on which the sewer had been constructed by the authorities of the District had not been judiciously selected.”
The evidence excluded was clearly inadmissible for the only purpose for which it was offered. As showing that the plan of drainage was injudicious and insufficient, it was incompetent. As bearing upon the question whether there was any negligence in the actual construction or repair of the sewer, or the question whether the sewer was so constructed as to create a nuisance upon the plaintiff’s property, it was immaterial. The instructions given to the jury are not reported and must be presumed to have been accurate and sufficient.
Judgment affirmed.