Patsy and Gina Waters sued the City of Gainesville the City for damages and injunctive relief, claiming that the City failed to properly maintain the drainage system that serves their property.1 Following a jury trial, Patsy Waters was awarded $122,000 in damages attributable to the nuisance and both women were awarded $50,000 in attorney fees. The trial court also entered an order for injunctive relief directing the City to abate the nuisance. In several enumerations of error the City appeals the verdict, the denial of its motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict j.n.o.v., and the injunction. Finding the City’s enumerations meritless, we affirm. Viewed in the light most supportive of the jury’s verdict, the evidence shows that Patsy and Gina Waters are mother and daughter and jointly own a home located on Sunset Boulevard. Patsy Waters and her ex-husband purchased the house in 1964 and remodeled the basement in 1983 to add a bathroom and kitchen so that their daughter Gina could live there. They also added a second septic tank at that time. The Waters divorced in 1986 and title was transferred to Patsy. Gina was later added as a joint titleholder. Gina Waters testified that she never experienced any water-related problems with the property until 1992 when the City fire department repressurized the water lines. She testified that several water lines were broken at that time, which resulted in the first basement flooding incident, and that although the City sent someone out to repair the damaged water lines, she still experienced problems with flooding.
She testified that in October of 1995, the septic tank backed up into the basement and she went home to help her mother deal with the damage. She further testified that when she arrived, Patsy Waters was ” in a bad way, is the best way to describe it, emotionally, physically. She was about to drop.” She stated that her mother was soaking wet and appeared swollen, and that she was concerned for her mother’s health. Gina Waters described an occasion when she and her mother observed that water flowing from a neighbor’s draining pool flooded their front yard when it entered a “ weir inlet,” or catch basin, across the street from their home. She testified that the water was “spewing out of the bank” into their front yard. She further testified that as a result of the water problems, in addition to the flooding, they have numerous sinkholes in their yard caused by underground soil erosion.
