City Of Austin

At approximately 6 p.m. on November 15, 2001, seventeen year-old Nathan Leggett tragically drowned after attempting to drive through a flooded street in southwest Austin. That afternoon, it was undisputed that the Austin area had been hit by thunderstorms with intense rainfall, hail, tornados and widespread flooding. Nathan's mother, Trudy Leggett, individually and as Nathan's heir, sued the City of Austin for damages under the survival statute and wrongful death act. She alleged that the City's negligent maintenance or design of a stormwater detention pond, located north of the intersection where Nathan drowned, had caused debris to clog a grate covering the pond's designed drainage outlet, resulting in storm waters backing up and ultimately overflowing the pond, flooding the adjacent residential area and causing Nathan's death.*fn1