An Orangeburg County jury has decided the county government owes a Neeses woman $220,000 for allowing runoff from a county-owned dirt road to damage her ponds.

Jan Hiott said she complained to the county for a decade that runoff from Starwood Drive was damaging ponds on her Fire Tower Road property.

"Our allegations were the county failed to maintain the road and hadn't taken measures to prevent the sediment from the road from settling onto her property and damaging two of her ponds. The county promised her it would fix the damage but it never did," said Chris Wilson of Bamberg, one of Hiott's attorneys.

The jury deliberated for almost two-and-a-half hours on the matter Friday before returning its verdict. The jury awarded $210,000 in damages to Hiott on her negligence claim after determining that Orangeburg County's actions were responsible for causing damage to the property. The jury also awarded $10,000 in actual damages on Hiott's breach of contract claim.

"I want to thank all the jurors," Hiott said after they reached their decision. "It shows me there are still honest people left in this world."

Following the verdict, attorney Pete Kulmala of Barnwell made several motions on Orangeburg County's behalf.

"We made the usual motions at the end for a new trial and a hearing to have the damage amounts reduced," he said. "We have 10 days to present our motions in writing to the judge and he will set a date to hear them."

Hiott claims the county's maintenance of Starwood Drive has been "negligent, careless and reckless" because the county failed to use accepted engineering practices to prevent silt, sand, sediments, vegetation and water from coming onto her land.

She said the county should have created a sufficient retention pond to prevent sand and debris from entering her ponds and that employees attempted to excavate a pond without proper training, equipment or materials. She said the county also gave her bad advice on how to deal with the situation.

In a motion filed May 20, 2009, Orangeburg County outlined the history of the dispute.

Hiott said she bought the property in 1995 and contacted a pond repair person who said he could fix a breached portion of a dam, but that the repair wouldn't last because of runoff from the county's road.

And then, in 1999 the county attempted to remove sediment from her first pond but stopped because of the wetness. Hiott said county employees told her they would return when the area dried out, but they didn't.

In December 2004, Orangeburg County constructed a sediment trap in the area.

Hiott later tried to convince the county to work on three of her ponds, but the county refused. Instead, it said it would only work on one of the ponds because it wasn't sure how much of her problem stemmed from its road.

The county claimed Hiott waited too long to file her lawsuit. It further says she can only asked to be compensated for damages dating back to 2005, but they can't tell how much of the damage has been done since then.

The county also notes that in South Carolina, government bodies are not liable for losses arising from nuisances.

And it said it never breached a contract with Hiott to make repairs because they never agreed on what the county should repair.

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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