Long v. Sage Estate Homeowners Ass'nLong v. Sage Estate Homeowners Ass'n
Carpinello, J. Appeals (1) from an order of the Supremе Court (Keegan, J.), entered December 11, 2003 in Albany County, which, inter alia, granted defendants’ motions for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and (2) from an order of said court, entered Februаry 26, 2004 in Albany County, which denied plaintiff‘s motion to reargue and/or renew.
As a result, plaintiff commenced the instant action against Greenhouse and the subdivision‘s homeowners association seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief. In turn, Greenhouse commenced a third-party action against St. Joan of Arc Church, third-party defendant Faddegon‘s Nursery, Inс. (which had been hired to do general landscaping on the lot but did not construct the berm), third-party defendant Citadel Homes, Inc. (the general contractor for the housе) and third-party defendant Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York. After the filing of numerous motions by all parties, Supreme Court issued an order, among other things, granting defendants summary judgment dismissing the complaint. Subsequently, Supreme Court also denied plaintiff‘s motion for renewal and reargument. Plaintiff appeals.
In granting summary judgment to defendants, Supreme Court essentially agreed with their arguments that (1) the berm had been constructed in good faith and for a legitimate purpose (i.e., to screen Greenhouse‘s home from the сhurch parking lot) and (2) no action could lie here since no pipes or ditches were used in conjunction with its construction. Indeed, with respect to the channeling оf surface waters from one property to another, it is a well-settled common-law rule that “[a] proprietor can improve his [or her] land according to his [оr her] own desire in any manner to which the land is suited, without being liable to the
Here, the record before Suрreme Court established that the berm was erected adjacent to an existing swale that ran downslope and perpendicular to plaintiff‘s property. The net еffect of the berm was to divert a large volume of water, which had previously flowed over Greenhouse‘s property in a sheeting fashion, into the narrow swale, therеby creating a “funnel effect.” We find that this condition constitutes the artificial collection, concentration and discharge of large quantities of surface watеr onto another‘s land sufficient to constitute actionable conduct (see id.). In sum, Greenhouse created an artificial funnel which channeled the storm water directly onto plaintiff‘s land (see Seifert v Sound Beach Prop. Owners Assn., 60 Misc 2d 300, 303-304 [1969]).
The fact that this was accomplished by raising one side of the shallow swale, as opposed to excavating it, is immaterial, as the effеct on plaintiff‘s lot was the same. Said differently, we do not view the common law of this state as condemning the latter practice and at the same time exonerating the former. Consequently, a jury should determine whether the berm “so changed, channeled or increased the flow of surface water onto plaintiff[‘s] land as to proximately cause damage [ ] to the property, or whether the rainstorm was of such severity that it would have constituted the proximate cause of such damage[ ] notwithstаnding the presence of the [berm]” (Lytwyn v Town of Wawarsing, 43 AD2d 618, 620 [1973]).1
With respect to defendants’ argument that they cannot be held liable for thе damage to plaintiff‘s property because no pipe or ditch was utilized in constructing the berm, we are unpersuaded that the Court of Appeals in Kossoff v Rathgeb-Walsh (supra) intended to strictly limit the artificial means of water diversion solely to “drains, pipes or ditches.” Notably, no such limitation is found in cases that both predate and postdate Kossoff (see Buffalo Sewer Auth. v Town of Cheektowaga, 20 NY2d 47, 52 [1967]; Noonan v City of Albany, 79 NY 470, 476 [1880]). In short, we do not view the actionable “artificial means” (Cottrell v Hermon, supra; see Archambault v Knost, supra), which are employed to effect the diversion of water to be limited solely to pipes, drains or ditches.2
Since Supreme Court‘s order rendered other pending motions moot, we are compelled to address plaintiff‘s motion to increase the ad damnum clause of his complaint, as well as certain third-party defendants’ motions for dismissal of the third-party complaint.3 First, as the record reveals no prejudice to defendants, plaintiff‘s motion to increase the ad damnum clause of the complaint is granted (see Siegel, NY Prac § 217, at 342 [3d ed]). Next, the third-party complaint should have been dismissed with respect to Faddegon‘s, the Diocese and St. Jоan of Arc Church.
The prima facie showing of Faddegon‘s that it did not, in fact, construct the berm went unrefuted except in conclusory and insufficient terms; therefore, it is entitled to summary judgment. Next, since there was no opposition to the Diocese‘s assertion that it does not own the adjoining church property, summary judgment should be granted to this party as well. Finally, plaintiff‘s unrefuted testimony that he had no problems with water diversion until Greenhouse extended the berm establishes that St. Joan of Arc Church did not contribute to the flooding and, therefore, it too is entitled to summary judgment.4
With respect to the argument that defendants violated a recorded drainage maintenance agreement, we find sufficient questions of fact on this issue so as to preclude summary judgment in favor of plaintiff or defendants. Finally, the propriety of plaintiff‘s сlaim that Supreme Court erred in denying his motion to renew is now academic and thus his appeal from this order is dismissed.
Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Peters and Spain, JJ., concur. Orderеd that the order