Menzies d/b/a Cars for Christ v. Hall

The trial court did not err in ordering the defendant to regrade area near the base of a concrete wall separating his property from the plaintiff's and to refrain from storing or parking unattended motor vehicles on the rear portion of his lot, to abate an excessive amount of run-off onto the plaintiff's property.

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In this equity action, appellant Winston Menzies, d/b/a/ Cars for Christ “CFC”, contends that the trial court abused its discretion in fashioning injunctive relief to alleviate excessive rain and surface water run-off from property occupied by CFC onto property owned by appellee Amanda Hall. Because we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion, we affirm. The evidence presented authorized the trial court to find that Hall is the owner of a 2.5 acre tract of improved real property located in Rockdale County. She has resided on the property since 1943. In 2000, the Greater Grace Church of Conyers 2000 Trust, over which Menzies serves as trustee, entered into an agreement to lease property situated uphill and adjacent to Hall’s property. After the trust acquired its leasehold interest, Menzies removed much of the grass located on the lot and replaced it with compacted gravel with the intent to operate CFC, a used car business, on the property and to store its used car inventory on the rear portion of the lot. These modifications to the property substantially increased the amount of water run-off on Hall’s property.

Hall complained to both Menzies and the City of Conyers, causing Menzies to retain an engineer who designed a plan for detention of the water run-off. The plan, as personally constructed by Menzies, provided for the installation of a concrete wall between the two lots with a 4-inch pipe to direct water into a spreader swale along the property line to more evenly disburse the water as it flowed onto Hall’s property. Hall’s property continued to receive excessive water run-off, and she filed suit in November 2003 alleging a continuous nuisance and trespass. Both parties submitted engineering reports to the court and a hearing was held, after which the court issued a temporary injunction directing Menzies to stop any excessive water run-off onto Hall’s property but leaving it up to Menzies and his experts to determine what changes were necessary to achieve this result.1

Menzies d/b/a Cars for Christ v. Hall

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