The City of Jefferson and Dixon Construction Company recently filed their responses to a civil petition from a Jefferson resident.

According to court documents, the City and Dixon Construction denied all allegations in a petition filed by Roger Nielson for property damage due to insufficient drainage on the overpass bridge on Iowa Highway 4.

Nielson claims that on or about May 30, 2013, a significant rainfall event occurred in which his property was damaged due to an easement that was cleared of debris that was owned by Union Pacific Railroad.  The petition also states that the City of Jefferson and Dixon Construction were negligent and didn’t follow proper procedure for drainage on the bridge.

The City’s response was that it had no duty to design or specify, construct or maintain the Highway 4 overpass, drainage, storm sewer systems with generally recognized engineering or safety standards at the time of construction.

Culter Law Firm in West Des Moines represents Dixon Construction and claims Nielson was at fault in failing to mitigate his damages and he is further at fault with proximate cause for his claimed damages.

Union Pacific filed its response in June, denying all allegations as well.

Court documents show that attorneys for each of the parties will be involved in a conference call scheduled for August 12th.