John Somerville, attorney for Mountain Brook residents. Photo courtesy of Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
The City of Mountain Brook, the Mountain Brook Board of Education and Schoel Engineering are named as defendants in a lawsuit alleging damage to homeowner property from work done at Mountain Brook Junior High School.
Jim Hicks, and Michael and Melinda Keller electronically filed separate suits late Wednesday night, saying their property was damaged as a result of storm drainage from Mountain Brook Junior High.
“They are convinced that the City of Mountain Brook is more interested in taking care of its monetary assets, like the junior high building, than protecting its residents,” attorney John Somerville said. “To deliberately channel water and cause damage is not acceptable.”
The attorney added that having water drain into a ditch on the property of his client is wrong. He said a city can take property through condemnation but must file proceedings and pay fair compensation.
“That's wrong and the city – particularly a city like Mountain Brook that is not a poor place – should take care of their citizens,” Somerville said. “They should respect the property rights of their citizens. That's the way you treat each other or should treat each other.”
The attorney added that the citizens have a 1995 agreement with the city concerning a buffer between their properties and the school.
“The city ignored that and broke their agreement and destroyed that buffer area,” Somerville said. “The city breaking its word to its citizens, that's not the way to do business. That's not any way to live.”
The City of Mountain Brook declined comment on the lawsuits. Efforts to reach the Board of Education and Schoel Engineering were unsuccessful.
