Abstract
The State has long enjoyed an exception to the general rules of negligence liability under the common law doctrine of sovereign immunity. This immunity has been extended to municipal governments in carrying out their role of serving the general public but not in their performance of proprietary functions. In its ruling in Junior College District v. City of St. Louis,2 the Missouri Supreme Court emphasized the narrow interpretation of exceptions to limits on negligence claims against government entities, particularly in relation to a municipality's operations as a provider of water to its citizens.3 The court further insulated municipal water suppliers by refusing to recognize a duty owed by a municipality to take reasonable measures to stop the flood of water onto private property as a result of a failure in an instrumentality not owned or maintained by the municipality.4
Recommended Citation
Jason D. Sapp,
Murky Waters: Barriers to Recovery for Flood Damage from Municipal Waterworks,
70 Mo. L. Rev.
(2005)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol70/iss3/10