Rhode Island Stormwater Case Begins Today

Legal proceedings in a longstanding dispute between the town of Westerly, R.I. and Hopkinton Building and Zoning Official Charles Mauti were scheduled to begin today in Washington County Superior Court.

Mauti, who has been employed as Hopkinton's building inspector for the last five years, is seeking unspecified thousands of dollars in damages for trespass and a declaratory judgment on a defective town stormwater drainage line that failed beneath his 33 Elm St. property in the fall of 2000. The collapse left large sinkholes, flooded the property several times through the summer of 2001 and caused damage to Mauti's house and garage, according to Superior Court documents.

In a November. 2000 letter to then-Town Manager Pamela Nolan, Mauti declined the town's attempt to remedy the situation, refusing to allow town workers to enter the property or give the town an easement to repair the line.

"I request that no work be done on, and that no one come onto my property without either my or my wife's explicit, written permission," Mauti wrote. "I am quite serious when I say that we need to agree on a plan of correction - one that is fully encompassing: the easement, the relocation of the storm drain, the drainage problem (and) the damage to the structure - before any work commences."

In April 2001, the town sued Mauti and wife Patricia Pezzullo seeking injunctive relief for access to and maintenance of the drainage pipe. One year later, in April 2002, the court ruled in the couple's favor, deciding that the town had no easement on Mauti's property. Mauti subsequently counter-sued the town for damages to his property.

In a February 2002 jury trial request, Mauti said former Public Works Superintendent John Fusaro told him "the town would not divert the flow of runoff away from the property because it wanted to 'keep the pressure' on Mr. Mauti and Ms. Pezzullo to accept the town's proposals for reconstruction of the drainage system," despite the fact that the plans had been rejected several times by Mauti himself.

But because the town's insurance company - Legion Insurance Co. - had pending litigation in the state of Pennsylvania, the case was stayed through mid-2003. Furthermore, Mauti claimed in early 2004 that the town had attempted to amend previously filed documents contradicting a number of its previous admissions regarding repairs.

The case slowly proceeded to a trial, and in a January 2005 letter to Associate Justice Jeffrey A. Lanphear, Mauti's lawyer John P. Gyorgy asked the court to prevent town attorney John C. Levanti from submitting evidence regarding the cost of repairs it undertook to relocate the storm-water drainage system on an adjoining property. Both lawyers declined comment last week.

Jury selection for a two to three day trial is scheduled for today, according to a Superior Court clerk.

Source: The Westerly Sun