District suit taken under advisement
By Lorraine Bennett
Staff Writer
Presiding Superior Court Judge William H. Coward listened for 45 minutes Monday, Feb. 6 to attorneys argue the $3 million Ridges versus Clay County Water & Sewer District suit, then took the matter under advisement.
“It’s not making sense,” Coward told Ward M. Collins, Franklin attorney for The Ridges Management Company after listening to the back-and-forth exchanges from Collins and Frank G. Queen, of Waynesville, attorney representing the water and sewer district.
A year ago The Ridges Management Company filed a complaint alleging the Clay County Water and Sewer District had failed to live up to its agreement permitting 400 sewer taps onto the county water district’s sewer system.
The complaint alleged the Ridges at Mountain Harbor subdivision would be able to use the county’s sewer system and the county had agreed to allow the hookups if The Ridges would build and install an extension of the county’s sewer and water infrastructure in the subdivision.
The county has argued the agreement is rescinded because administration in the water district changed and The Ridges did not use the allocation.
Collins, attorney for the plaintiffs, The Ridges, argued the agreement remains valid and enforceable and demanded the water district honor it.
“If the district can guarantee 400 taps free of charge doesn’t that solve your problem?” The judge wanted to know.
Collins argued that $1.6 million was spent installing the lines and “we’ve got to get some benefit out of it.”
An earlier letter to the district had explained the rationale for a $3 million suit. That letter stated $7,500 per sewer tap represents the initial costs of installation of the sewer line, which The Ridges asserts was donated to the county.
Collins said Monday the district “hasn’t given us anything. The district wants to get away with as little as possible.”
“The relief requested has been delivered and there is not any other issue,” Queen argued in court. He said the defense should withdraw the action and argued the case is moot.
“The issue is whether the district can give the taps to my client. I’m not sure they have the authority to do that anymore,” Collins said.
Collins had previously argued the agreement between Clay County and The Ridges defined how the agreement could be terminated — only if the water district ceases to exist or if the agreement is “jointly terminated” by The Ridges and the district — neither which have occurred.
“This amounts to nothing less than a wholesale breach of the agreement entered into in 2005,” Collins wrote in a letter to the Clay County Water & Sewer District in September 2021.
In a February 2021 letter to The Ridges Management Company, the county had argued the individuals and entities that were allocated flow did not use their allocations for more than five years and therefore the county was rescinding the allocation permit.
In his September 2021 letter to the district, Collins argued that the agreement remains valid and enforceable and demanded the water district reaffirm the agreement in writing and take all measures and actions necessary to resume performance of the agreement.
Monday’s hearing was listed on the Graham County Superior Court’s civil calendar for reconsideration of a motion for summary judgment.
A summary judgment is a procedure by which a court decides against one of the parties if it considers that a claim has no real prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason for a trial in the matter.
A judge generally takes a case under advisement after he has heard the arguments from opposing sides and wants to render his decision, either written or in court, at a later date.
Collins said Monday he expects a ruling “within 48 hours.”