Property Owner Liability for Retaining Wall Collapse

A property owner appealed a lower court decision that found them liable for damages sustained by a neighbor due to the collapse of a retaining wall, arguing the wall's deterioration was due to external forces beyond their control, specifically water infiltration from a public sewer system. The high court rejected the appeal, affirming that the property owner had a non-delegable duty, based on established property law principles concerning the maintenance of structures that support neighboring land, to ensure the wall's stability, and thus remained responsible for the resulting damage, regardless of the ultimate cause of the structural failure.