1989

McConnell v. Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County

Virginia Circuit Court

20 Va. Cir. 5

Landowners filed a declaratory judgment action because of repetitive flooding which was alleged to have been caused by negligent design and maintenance of a stormwater sewer system by the County. Court dismissed the 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim, as County’s alleged inaction to fix the flooding was not an official government policy. Court denied plea of the statute of limitations on the inverse condemnation claim. A cause of action for an unconstitutional taking does not accrue until the flooding becomes inevitable. The inevitability was measured by the natural forces which caused the flooding, that being a certain amount of rainfall would produce a flood sufficient to harm landowner’s property. There needed to be more evidence produced whether the inevitability started more than three years before suit was filed.

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