Residents seeking compensation from Sarasota County for flooding from Tropical Storm Debby in 2024 received a setback Aug. 12 when 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Dana Moss granted most of Sarasota County’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit includes an inverse-condemnation claim alleging that Sarasota County’s actions or inaction resulted in an uncompensated taking of the plaintiffs’ property or substantially deprived them of its beneficial use.
It also alleges that Sarasota County should have known about the breach in the dike between two watersheds and had a responsibility to maintain Cow Pen Slough and related infrastructure, including the dike.
The plaintiffs also include three businesses that reported flood damage: R and H Meadows
LLC, Kitchen Design by Laura LLC and Kayaking SRQ Tours LLC.
How did Judge Moss rule?
Following a June 10 hearing, Moss dismissed the negligence claim with prejudice, ruling that state law provides local governments immunity from damages caused by the partial or total failure of stormwater-management systems and related works.
Unless Moss grants the plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration or the ruling is successfully challenged later, the negligence claim cannot be included in the amended complaint.
Moss dismissed the inverse-condemnation claim without prejudice, finding that the complaint needed greater specificity about the county’s alleged legal obligations and facts supporting a “taking,” including permanent or reasonably recurring flooding and substantial deprivation of the property’s beneficial use.
Moss also dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims for statutory business damages, ruling that such damages are available only in certain partial takings involving right-of-way projects.
Moss gave the plaintiffs 20 days from Aug. 12 to file an amended inverse-condemnation claim.
The amended complaint must identify the Sarasota County Code provisions that allegedly obligate the county to maintain Cow Pen Slough and its western dike, explain the scope of that obligation and define the “surrounding infrastructure” the county allegedly must maintain.
The ruling also said the plaintiffs must “specify the Defendant’s alleged affirmative ‘action’ claimed to give rise to liability, separate and apart from alleged ‘inaction’ or failure to maintain or repair.”On Aug. 18, attorneys Steven D. Hutton of Hutton & Stall PLLC and S. William Moore of Moore Bowman & Reese P.A. filed a motion asking Moss to reconsider her dismissal of the negligence claim so it could be included in the amended complaint.
What happened to cause flooding in Laurel Meadows?
The first of three major storms to impact Sarasota County during the 2024 hurricane season, Debby was still at tropical storm strength when it brought record rainfall to the area — 11.06 inches recorded on Aug. 4 at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, according to the National Weather Service, and more than 16 inches over a three-day span.
The original lawsuit alleges that a breach in a dike separating Cow Pen Slough from the Phillippi Creek watershed worsened the flooding in the 85-home Laurel Meadows subdivision.
When was Laurel Meadows built?
Laurel Meadows was designed for families and built between 2000 and 2005.
The triangular subdivision is bordered by Lorraine Road to the west, Cow Pen Slough to the east and Delft Road to the south.
The suit notes that rainfall began in the early morning of Aug. 4, 2024, and by Aug. 5, 2024, most of the homes in Laurel Meadows experienced interior flooding.
The lawsuit says Laurel Meadows is outside a designated high-risk flood zone, meaning homeowners generally were not required by mortgage lenders to carry flood insurance.
How did Tropical Storm Debby affect Laurel Meadows?
The storm passed more than 100 miles west of the coast as a tropical storm on Aug. 4, with a high wind gust of 64 mph recorded at the airport.
Floodwater entered 84 of Laurel Meadows’ 85 homes after Debby dropped more than a foot of rain in 24 hours, engineer and hydrologist Stephen Suau told the Herald-Tribune in November 2024. He said the subdivision’s streets were designed to flood, but its homes were not.
Suau, who helped establish Sarasota County’s stormwater division 26 years ago, said the county asked him to review the flooding but did not pay him for that work.
His original hypothesis was that a breach in the dike between Cow Pen Slough, which is at a higher elevation than the Phillippi Creek basin, would explain the volume of water that flooded Laurel Meadows.
Suau said a YouTube video posted by a driver heading west on Delft Road, which is south of Laurel Meadows, appears to support his theory. From 35 seconds into the video until the 50-second mark, water can be seen flowing from south to north.
Suau said he identified the breach east of Rothenbach Park using lidar imagery collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2018 and 2019 and provided to Sarasota County through the state in 2023.
What’s next?
Moss had not ruled as of Aug. 21 on Hutton and Moore’s motion asking her to reinstate the negligence claim.
Moss gave the plaintiffs 20 days from Aug. 12 to file an amended complaint.
A jury trial currently is scheduled to begin Nov. 29, 2027.
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota flood victims suffer setback in fight for compensation
