Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 13a-138a (2026)

Limitation on actions for drainage damage

✓ current as of May 2026

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No action shall be brought by the owner of land adjoining a public highway, or of any interest in such land, for recovery of damage to such property or interest by reason of any draining of water into or through such land by any town, city, borough or other political subdivision of the state pursuant to subsection (a) of section 13a-138, but within fifteen years next after the first occurrence of such drainage, except that if such drainage first occurred prior to October 1, 1981, no such action shall be brought after October 1, 1986.

(P.A. 81-162, S. 2.)

Cited. 217 C. 520.

15-year limitation period applies to both Subsecs. (a) and (b) of Sec. 13a-138; to construe otherwise would yield an unworkable result; public policy favors limitation periods for cause of action to grant degree of certainty to litigants. 110 CA 591.

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Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1991–2011 · leading case: Boyne v. Town of Glastonbury, 955 A.2d 645 (Conn. App. Ct. 2008).

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Boyne v. Town of Glastonbury, 955 A.2d 645 (Conn. App. Ct. 2008). · cites it 11× “With respect to count one, the court ruled that the plaintiffs claim was time barred by General Statutes § 13a-138a. With respect to counts two, three and four, the court ruled that the defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law because the plaintiff no longer was in…”

Johnson v. Town of North Branford, 781 A.2d 346 (Conn. App. Ct. 2001). · cites it 9× “2 The town argued that General Statutes § 52-584 3 barred the plaintiffs’ common-law negligence claim, that General Statutes §§ 52-577 4 and 52-584 barred the plaintiffs’ common-law nuisance claim, and *645 that General Statutes § 13a-138a 5 barred the statutory claim against…”

Hillman v. Town of Greenwich, 587 A.2d 99 (Conn. 1991). · cites it 3× “General Statutes § 13a-138a provides in part that after October 1,1986, “[n]o action shall be brought by the owner of land adjoining a public highway .”

Herasimovich v. Town of Wallingford, 17 A.3d 502 (Conn. App. Ct. 2011). · cites it 4× “Additionally, the court concluded that the town had acquired the right to maintain the culvert underneath Highland Avenue by prescription and that General Statutes § 13a-138a barred all of the plaintiffs’ claims directed against the town.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.