Schroeder v. Ely City Municipal Water Department

910 P.2d 260, 112 Nev. 73, 1996 Nev. LEXIS 8
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 31, 1996
DocketNo. 26663
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 910 P.2d 260 (Schroeder v. Ely City Municipal Water Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schroeder v. Ely City Municipal Water Department, 910 P.2d 260, 112 Nev. 73, 1996 Nev. LEXIS 8 (Neb. 1996).

Opinion

[75]*75OPINION

Per Curiam:

Appellants Quentin R. and Frances M. Schroeder (Schroeder) and Jim and Margaret Nelson (Nelson) owned business buildings adjacent to one another in Ely, Nevada. Because of a leak in the water service line leading up to these buildings, both Schroeder’s and Nelson’s buildings sustained property damage. The section of the line which leaked was under the control of the respondents City of Ely (Ely) and the Ely Municipal Water Department (Water Department). Both Schroeder and Nelson received water from the Water Department for which they paid a fee. For many years before, Ely and its Water Department had failed to inspect the water lines leading to Schroeder’s and Nelson’s property.

Schroeder and Nelson filed suit against Ely and its Water Department for failing to properly maintain the water line and for the property damage they sustained. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Ely and its Water Department and denied Schroeder’s and Nelson’s cross-motion for summary judgment on the basis that NRS 41.033 provides Ely and its Water Department with immunity from liability. Schroeder and Nelson appeal from that order claiming that the district court erred in granting Ely and its Water Department summary judgment on that basis.

NRS 41.033 provides:

1. No action may be brought under NRS 41.031 or against an officer or employee of the state or any of its agencies or political subdivisions which is based upon:
(a) Failure to inspect any building, structure, vehicle, street, public highway or other public work, facility or improvement to determine any hazards, deficiencies or other matters, whether or not there is a duty to inspect; or
(b) Failure to discover such a hazard, deficiency or other matter, whether or not an inspection is made.

(Emphasis added.)

Summary judgment is appropriate only when no genuine issue of material fact remains for trial and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Shepard v. Harrison, 100 Nev. 178, 179, 678 P.2d 670, 672 (1984); NRCP 56. The only issue [76]*76presented on appeal is whether Ely and its Water Department were entitled to judgment as a matter of law pursuant to NRS 41.033. This court’s review of an order granting summary judgment is de novo. Walker v. American Bankers Ins., 108 Nev. 533, 536, 836 P.2d 59, 61 (1992).

Schroeder and Nelson argue that they are suing Ely and its Water Department for the failure to maintain the water line leading to their property and that NRS 41.033 provides municipal immunity only for the failure to inspect, not for the failure to maintain. They further note that the Water Department had an affirmative duty to maintain the city’s water lines at the time the damage at issue here occurred. Indeed, as they point out, Rule 103(c)(5) of the Water Department’s rules and regulations provides, in part, as follows: “The service connection extending from the water main to the property line and including the curb stop and/or the meter box and yoke shall be maintained by the Water Department . . . .” (Emphasis added.)1

Contrary to the assertions of Schroeder and Nelson, we do not believe that Rule 103(c)(5) forms a basis for liability here or that it constitutes a waiver of Ely’s and the Water Department’s immunity under NRS 41.033. We read Rule 103(c)(5) in its most natural sense to mean that the Water Department assumes a duty to maintain (to keep in a state of repair) the water lines outside a property line when it becomes aware of a potential or existing problem. Here, there is no indication that the Water Department knew or should have known of the faulty water line. A public entity has no governmental immunity pursuant to NRS 41.033 only if the public entity had knowledge of a hazard and fails to act reasonably to correct such hazard. Lotter v. Clark Co. Bd. of Commissioners, 106 Nev. 366, 368, 793 P.2d 1320, 1322 (1990). Facts indicating that Ely and its Water Department knew of the hazard or failed to correct it once it became known, thus constituting a breach of the Water Department’s duty to maintain its water lines, are not alleged in the instant case.

Because there are no facts from which to conclude that Ely and its Water Department failed to maintain the water line leading to Schroeder’s and Nelson’s property after the leak was discovered, [77]*77Schroeder’s and Nelson’s claim for relief that Ely and its Water Department failed to maintain the water line could only be viewed by the district court as a claim based on Ely’s and the Water Department’s failure to inspect the water line. NRS 41.033 clearly provides that municipalities such as Ely are immune from liability for the failure to inspect water lines. Thus, the district court was correct in granting Ely and its Water Department summary judgment pursuant to NRS 41.033. See Fischmann v. City of Henderson, 92 Nev. 659, 556 P.2d 923 (1976).

Had Ely and its Water Department wanted to waive their immunity under NRS 41.033, they could have done so by clearly stating that they would inspect their water lines. They did not do so. But even under that circumstance, it is questionable whether Ely and its Water Department would be liable given that immunity attaches pursuant to NRS 41.033 “whether or not there is a duty to inspect.” •

Schroeder and Nelson also assert that government immunity should not apply because the maintenance of water lines is an operational and not a discretionary act. They cite Andolino v. State of Nevada, 97 Nev. 53, 624 P.2d 7 (1981). Andolino is clearly distinguishable because it was decided under a completely different statute. NRS 41.032

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
910 P.2d 260, 112 Nev. 73, 1996 Nev. LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schroeder-v-ely-city-municipal-water-department-nev-1996.