In this equity case, Gwinnett County appeals from an interlocutory injunction against the County and in favor of Gerard and Jewell McManus. Pending further proceedings in this case, the injunction prohibits the County from using “artificial means” to increase the water and sediment that runs off a parcel of real property owned by the County and onto an adjacent parcel owned by the McManuses. The County contends that the trial court abused its discretion when it entered the injunction, but we see no error and affirm.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the findings of the trial court, the record shows that the County is constructing a roadway upon its parcel, a construction project that commenced in 2009. The County claims a public drainage easement across the rear of the McManus property, and it built a temporary sediment pond on the County property to drain water and sediment from the construction project and to divert that water and sediment into the drainage easement. But soon after the pond was built, heavy rains caused the water and sediment runoff to exceed the bounds of the easement, depositing sediment throughout the McManus property and causing significant damage. In 2010, the McManuses sued the County, and they sought an interlocutory injunction to keep their property from further damage during the pendency of the suit. The next year, the County built a permanent detention pond on its property, which would, the County claimed, ensure that the runoff into the easement would not exceed the runoff that predated the construction project. Although disputed by the County, there is some evidence that shows that, even after the construction of the permanent detention pond, the runoff was not contained entirely within the easement, that the runoff overran the bounds of the easement “every time it rains,” and that portions of the McManus property “nowhere near” the easement—such as the front yard of the McManus home—continued to flood occasionally as a result of the road construction project. Upon this record, the trial court found that the County had exceeded the bounds of the easement and continued to divert water and sediment by artificial means onto other portions of the McManus property. As with the other pertinent findings of the trial court, this finding has some support in the evidentiary record, and we cannot say it is clearly erroneous. See OCGA § 9-11-52 a “In ruling on interlocutory injunctions . . . findings shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses.”. See also Menzies v. Hall, 281 Ga. 223, 225 2 637 SE2d 415 2006. From these findings, the trial court entered its interlocutory injunction, ordering the County to cease “causing increased water flow, sedimentation, and runoff onto the McManus property” by artificial means and directing the County to undertake 26 interim remedial measures to halt the excessive runoff pending further proceedings.
