Lawsuit Against District Returns to Courtroom

By Nancy Bowman Staff Writer

TROY — A lawsuit against the Miami East schools by neighboring property owners who claimed excessive waste water from a sewage treatment plant damaged their property is heading back to a Miami County court.

The suit by Thomas and Christine Gabel of Tipp City against the eastern Miami County school district was dismissed on a summary judgment in June by visiting Judge John Schmitt of Shelby County.

The Gabels appealed to Ohio’s 2nd District Court of Appeals.

The appeals court recently overturned Schmitt’s dismissal and returned the case to the Common Pleas Court for further action.

In the suit filed in 2005, the Gabels claimed they purchased several acres next to school property in August 2004, not knowing that runoff from the treatment plant would affect their property.

They claimed the schools began using the new plant and to “dump extraordinary amounts of waste water” onto their land without seeking their permission by obtaining an easement.

The Gabels claimed the water rendered several acres useless. They wanted the court to issue an injunction against the school district to stop plant activity causing the runoff. They also sought more than $25,000 in damages plus punitive damages.

Schmitt dismissed the suit after ruling the Gabels did not have legal standing to file the action because they were not the owners of the property off Troy-Urbana Road when the treatment plant began operations.

The appeals court found the Gabels did have standing to sue and ruled there was no evidence the Gabels knew of any improper discharge before they received the property’s title. The only evidence submitted was that pooling murky water was not discovered until after the title was transferred, the court said in its decision.

Contact this reporter at (937) 335-4357 or nbowman@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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