Duksa v. City of Middletown

The plaintiff owns a farm in a part of Middletown zoned for industry. In 1970 he granted the defendant city of Middletown an easement and right-of-way across his land for a sewer, in return for the right to tie into the sewer without cost. The sewer was constructed for gravity flow, and because the plaintiff’s land slopes down toward the river, part of the sewer was built in an embankment, which cut a portion of the farm into two pieces. The embankment is seventeen to eighteen feet high at the easterly end, is very steep and cannot be climbed or driven over. As soon as the city began to bring…