Plaintiffs alleged rainwater and snowmelt flowed from defendants' adjoining property owners' driveway into plaintiffs' property damaging the foundation and walls of their house from the runoff. They argued defendants caused the condition by impermissibly altering the water drainage system in their driveway. Defendants moved to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds noting the driveway was altered at the latest eight years before this suit was commenced, and the continuous wrong doctrine did not apply. Plaintiffs claimed they did not know about the source of the water flow until 2015. The court found the action barred by the statute of limitations as acts occurred before the three-year applicable limitations period to plaintiffs' causes of action. It found defendants' paving of the driveway in 2009 was a single and distinct wrong. Also, evidence showed plaintiffs experienced runoff problems since at least 2006 and the parties' communications showed they had water problems and took actions to remediate them more than three years before this action was brought. As such, plaintiffs' claims were untimely, granting defendants' motion to dismiss.
See New York Law Journal, Decisions of Interest, November 21, 2019
See New York Law Journal, Decisions of Interest, November 21, 2019
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