A three-member state Superior Court panel of judges has affirmed the decision of a Carbon County judge in a stormwater dispute between the borough of Lansford and a business owner.

The panel affirmed the decision of Judge Steven R. Serfass which favored the borough in a civil matter filed by Jesse Hiles, owner of the Sports Zoo, 390 W. Snyder Ave. Serfass ruled the borough was not responsible for erosion of Hiles’ property caused by stormwater. After conducting a nonjury trial in the matter, Serfass ruled in favor of Lansford and also denied Hiles’ appeal of that decision. Hiles, through attorney Robert T. Yurchak, of Nesquehoning, then appealed to the state Superior Court. That court recently affirmed Serfass’ decision.

Hiles sued the borough in 2016 over a portion of his property, which was washed away by stormwater. The property is a triangular gravel lot, used each year for an outdoor music festival, that Hiles said has to be rebuilt often due to erosion.

Hiles said the stormwater issue started more than 20 years ago, when a borough road project changed the shape of the road surface. He said a crown in the road directed the water onto his property.

Hiles sought more than $50,000 in damages from the borough. That included the cost of the borough constructing a curb around the property, as well as the gravel that has been used to rebuild the lot over the years.

A nonjury trial was held late in 2016. On June 1, 2017, Serfass sided with the borough. He wrote that there was no evidence that the stormwater was directed onto the property and the only reason the water went onto Hiles’ property was that it is located on a hill. Furthermore, he wrote, the erosion does not happen after every rainfall.

Serfass said that state law does not hold municipalities responsible for small amounts of stormwater runoff onto private property, unless it can be proven that they were negligent.

The borough did work to address the stormwater problem in 2012. Hiles started complaining in 2010 that stormwater was flowing into the bar itself. The borough built curbing, inlets and handicap ramps to prevent water from getting in, and Hiles paid to have a garage lifted to address the problem.

Serfass noted that throughout that project, Hiles didn’t make any complaints about stormwater eroding the parking lot in front of the bar.

State opinion

In a five-page opinion the state court panel noted that Hiles raised five issues in his appeal but added, “he does not divide the argument section of his brief ‘into as many parts as there are questions to be argued.’ ” The court continued, “Furthermore, despite raising multiple issues, the entire argument section of Appellant’s brief consists of a mere three pages. Therein, Appellant provides only two case citations — with no meaningful analysis accompanying them — to support his five claims.”

The court went on the state, “It is well-established that ‘(t)his court will not act as counsel and will not develop arguments on behalf of an appellant.”

The court said that the rules of appellate procedure “state unequivocally that each question an appellant raises is to be supported by discussion and analysis of pertinent authority.” The court added, “Appellant arguments which fail to adhere to these rules may be considered waived, and arguments which are not appropriately developed are waived.”

Continuing the court wrote, “Moreover, Appellant completely fails to cite to the record in his argument section, even though he devotes most of his three-page argument to discussing and challenging certain testimony given at trial. In addition, Appellant neglects to include a table of citations and a statement of both the scope of review and standard of review of his brief. These multiple deficiencies hinder our review. Accordingly, we conclude that Appellant’s issues are waived and therefore affirm the trial court’s judgment.”

Judges Bender, Murray and Pellegrini issued the opinion. Hiles has a right to ask the court to reconsider its decision or ask the state’s Supreme Court to review the opinion.

Attorney Michael S. Greek represented the borough in the action.