Foley & Mansfield Wins Appeal in Municipal Flooding Case After 17 Years of Litigation

Foley & Mansfield’s John Schaberg of the firm’s Edwardsville office recently won an appeal following 17 years of ongoing litigation. Beginning in 2001, the plaintiff-homeowners claimed that a private condominium development caused excessive flooding on their property, and claimed that our client, an Illinois municipality, should be ordered to fix the problem and pay monetary damages.

After a 6-day bench trial in 2009, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the City and the developer. The Fifth District Illinois Appellate Court reversed that judgment in 2012 and sent the case back to the trial court.

After several hearings in the trial court, two favorable judgments, and two more appeals, the same Appellate Court in 2018 finally agreed with the arguments we had been making on the City’s behalf since the onset of the litigation. As the plaintiffs did not petition for appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, the decision stands as final in our client’s favor.