CORINTH, Miss. (WTVA) -- The city of Corinth is asking a federal judge to dismiss it as a defendent in a lawsuit filed over flood damage to a retail store.
Kmart is suing Kroger, Fulton Improvements, LLC, Kansas City Southern Railway, E & A Southeast Limited Partnership, and the city of Corinth over damages to the Corinth store in 2010 and 2011.
The lawsuit claims the Kroger store is built in the floodway of Elam Creek, and should have been torn down.
In 2005, FEMA issued a Letter of Map Revision saying Kroger was not in the floodway.
Kmart claims Kroger's location, a city dirt landfill, and the railroad's failure to keep a nearby underpass clear lead to flooding that kept its Corinth store closed for several months.
The company also sites the same problems in flooding in April of 2011, and is asking for millions in damages.
This week, attorney's for the city filed a motion to dismiss based on several factors.
Those include Kmart's failure to exhaust administrative remedies before filing the lawsuit, failed to meet deadlines set under Mississippi tort laws, and the city is immune from any claim filed against it.
The city also asks a federal judge to stay further proceedings until ruling on their motion to dismiss.
Kroger also filed a motion to dismiss it as a defendent in the case earlier this year because Kroger was not the original tenant in the building
when it was constructed and doesn't own the property.
A trial date has been set in February of 2014.
