BLG Sues Loudoun County, Alleging Response to Selma Estates Flooding Destroyed Client’s Home

Bosson Legal Group’s attorneys filed a $3.3 million lawsuit against Loudoun County on behalf of local homeowners whose residence was destroyed by severe flooding. The Plaintiffs, former residents of Loudoun’s Selma Estates neighborhood, allege County officials constructed a berm behind their home despite knowing it would increase the risk of flooding to some homes. Sounding claims for fraud and negligence, the lawsuit also alleges at least one Loudoun official deliberately covered up the risk, possibly due to his close relationship with Stanley Martin Homes, the neighborhood’s developers. Both sides are now moving forward with gathering evidence ahead of a jury trial.

In a recent interview, lead counsel Timothy Bosson called the lawsuit his client’s “last resort,” after the County continually assured the homeowners that they would take responsibility and resolve the issue. When the plaintiffs asked the County to compensate them for their now-virtually worthless property, the County offered a paltry $25,000.00 to settle the claims. “We said, ‘That’s too low and they said, ‘Sue us,’ in so many words,’” Bosson said. “They strung my clients along and that’s what really ticked them off. They thought the County was going to do right and they didn’t.”

In 2015, severe flooding struck the Selma Estates neighborhood, but left the plaintiffs’ home untouched. County officials called the storm an “act of God,” and led residents to believe it was unlikely to occur again in their lifetimes. County officials determined to build a berm behind the plaintiffs’ home, a fix that the County assured homeowners would protect the neighborhood. However, depositions taken in lawsuits filed by the plaintiffs’ neighbors tell a different story. County officials testified during the other litigation that they assessed the floodplain zone next to the neighborhood was improperly mapped, leaving homes still at risk. Meanwhile, County employees raised concerns that the berm was an improper fix. Loudoun engineering official Gary Clare dismissed these concerns, giving developer Stanley Martin broad leeway to “try a fix and see if it works.” Unusually, Stanley Martin was not required to submit any engineering designs, plans, or permits for the berm.

However, in 2018, the floodwaters returned, with the berm directing torrents of water directly into the plaintiffs’ basement and yard. After then-Congresswoman Barbara Comstock contacted FEMA about the Selma floods in 2019, FEMA confirmed the floodplain abutting the neighborhood was improperly mapped. FEMA’s corrections impacted 25 properties, recommended some homes be demolished, and placed the plaintiffs’ property in a 100-year flood zone. Meanwhile, a separate study commissioned by the County in 2019 found “the berm dangerously gathered the floodplain’s waters behind the Brown’s home placing the home in the middle of an emergency spillway and was the direct cause of the 2018 flood of the Brown’s home,”

While the case is still proceeding in Loudoun Circuit Court, Bosson Legal Group’s attorneys are committed to ensuring local and county governments properly compensate homeowners for damages and other encroachments to their property.

Attorneys Timothy Bosson and Robert Rose represent the Plaintiffs.

For more information, see Ron and Andrijana Brown v. Loudoun County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors of Loudoun County, Virginia, and Gary Clare, Individually; Case No. CL22-444600.