Keller Farms sues Caseyville for digging detention pond

Keller Farms has filed a $50,000 trespass lawsuit against the Village of Caseyville in St. Clair County Circuit Court claiming it wrongfully excavated a detention pond on its property.

Represented by Harry J. Sterling of Fairview Heights, Keller Farms claims that mounds of dirt were piled on its land causing a dam-like effect and preventing water from flowing where it previously flowed.

Keller Farms alleges the village relied on its authority to dig based on a certain section of a state statute that allows it to remove driftwood and other obstructions from natural and other water courses.

"That the defendant, by its agents and representatives, did not remove 'driftwood or other obstructions' but rather excavated a waterway into a ditch creating thereby a detention pond on the lands of the plaintiff for certain facilities of the village that were constructed without their own detention areas," the complaint filed Dec. 18 states.

"That in addition, by virtue of the excavation, the defendant permitted 'low water bridges' to remain, which bridges were at elevations higher than the newly excavated ditch and which became thereby dams," the complaint states.