The original ruling, issued in March, ordered the council to correct the drainage of a street in La Cerradura to prevent rainwater from diverting onto a private property. The owner of the property had sued the Town Council for damages to her land, an olive grove, following municipal patching of the street, which is listed as a public road in the cadastre.
The Administrative Litigation Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, arguing that the filling of potholes with gravel had been carried out “without following the established procedure” and without a technical study to foresee water drainage, which is considered an unlawful act. However, the Town Council's defense, led by a lawyer from the Jaén Provincial Council, maintains that this conclusion is baseless.
According to the appeal, a simple patching does not require a technical project, and a drainage system cannot be demanded on a rural road. Furthermore, the lawyer argues that the denounced patching did not alter the road's gradient, contradicting the conclusions of an expert witness during the trial. The municipal defense insists that the maintenance and conservation actions on the road, carried out over the years, have not caused significant changes in its morphology or damage to the property.
“"We deny any relation to the damages that may have occurred on the plaintiff's property, and even less that the municipal action consisting of the maintenance and conservation of the aforementioned road has constituted an unlawful act."
Sources close to the prosecution have expressed their indignation at the Town Council's appeal, describing it as having “little legal basis.” They believe that the appeal merely cites rulings defining an unlawful act but does not invalidate the already judged reality. These sources warn that the municipal administration might be attempting to prolong the process, which could increase legal costs that would ultimately be borne by the citizens of Pegalajar.
