Manufacturer can sue city over sewer backup

Bostic Packaging Inc. operates a plant in Monroe, N.C., that manufactures packaging material. Bostic sued the city of Monroe, asserting that the city failed to properly maintain the sewer lines that served the plant, causing sewage to back up and overflow into the plant on July 30, 1997. According

The city asserted that it was entitled to governmental immunity, a doctrine that shields a municipality from liability for wrongs committed by its agencies and organizations. The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment for the city before trial. Bostic appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, arguing that the doctrine of governmental immunity did not apply to the city's operation and maintenance of its sewer system.

The appellate court sided with Bostic and allowed it to proceed with its lawsuit. The court noted that governm tal immunity does not apply to proprietary actions by a town, only to its governmental functions. "If the undertaking of the municipality is one in which only a governmental agency could engage, it is governmental in nature," the court explained. "It is proprietary when any corporation, individual, or group of individuals could do the same thing." According to the court, the city's operation of a sewer system was a proprietary function, and so the city was not entitled to immunity. Bostic Packaging Inc. v. City of Monroe, 562 S.E.2d 75 (N.C.App. 2002), Court of Appeals of North Carolina, April 16, 2002.

Recent court decisions on safety, liability, labor, and environmental problems. Edited by Maggi Knox. These legal briefs are selected and written to provide accurate and authoritative information but are not intended to serve as a substitute for competent professional service on legal questions.