GULF SHORES, Ala. — The second round of a lawsuit over a chronically flooding 21st Avenue in east Gulf Shores is scheduled to start on Monday, but a portion of the judgments in the first trial are still unsettled.

Plaintiffs awarded judgments for inverse condemnation have yet to be paid.

“They have not paid anything on the verdicts from last April,” Mark Ryan, attorney for the plaintiffs in both suits, said. “In fact the judge just entered three judgments and tacked on about $100,000 in interest on three of the inverse condemnation verdicts.

“An inverse condemnation is where by their actions they on take your property or injure your property without paying compensation. Essentially the neighborhood was used for storm water drainage and flooded all the houses.”

And, Ryan says, the city has indicated they have no intention of paying those claims unless forced to do so.

“The city’s position’s is they are not going to voluntarily pay anything toward those claims,” he said. “They’re going to appeal everything or that’s what they stated. No appeal has been filed yet, they are just not agreeing to pay.

“It’s the city’s position as communicated through their attorney was they were never going to agree to voluntarily pay anything.”

The attorney for the city, Andy Rutens, declined to comment saying he could not talk about pending litigation.

Those who were awarded judgments are Mark and Mary Leigh concerning the house at 508 E. 21st Ave. for $115,787, Ed and Kelli Sellers concerning the house at 528 E. 21st Ave. for $198,659 and Jennifer Massengale concerning the property at 540 E. 21st Ave for $173,875.

What makes these three unique was they weren’t homeowners at the time of the trial and they didn’t receive a buyout like the homeowners did. Their award was for the damages, mental anguish and lowering of property values because of the flooding problem.

“Some people were renters, some people owned the houses, but there were six of them that prior to reaching that partial settlement where they bought the houses, they had either sold or didn’t own the properties anymore, but the claim accrued,” Ryan said. “The damages awarded at trial were like out of pocket expenses, mental distress for people that were in the houses when they flooded and had to evacuate in the middle of the night. Things like that.”

The three above were in the first trial and there are three more in the second trial that begins Monday. Ryan believes they are owed compensation for their troubles.

The three seeking a verdict for inverse condemnation in the second trial are James Jennings for the property at 533 E. 21st Ave., Kelly Moore for the property at 529 E. 21st Ave. and Tiago De Melo Mota for the property at 513 E. 21st Ave.

“It’s like if you had an injury today to your house and then you sold your house a year later and a settlement happened two years later,” he said. “You’re still entitled to receive compensation for that injury that you had because it lowered the value of your house. There was nothing for the city to buy and the city did not settle those inverse condemnation claims. Everyone who still owned a house got the partial settlement.”

Ryan said he thinks the city is trying to avoid paying the inverse condemnation claims because those type claims are not covered by the city’s insurance.

“Certain type claims are covered claims and certain type claims are not covered,” he said. “Things like negligence in maintenance and those type claims are covered under city’s carrier. Other type claims like these inverse condemnation claims are uncovered. It’s an exclusion under the terms of the policy.”

The first trial was for homeowners and claimants on the north side of the street and the second will involve those on the south side.

The city agreed in January 2012 to buy 27 of the homes in the stricken area, but had to go to court over who was due how much.

The trial on 17 of those claims ended in April 2012 with the city ordered to pay $883,000 to 24 plaintiffs. Some were couples who owned properties and some were people who suffered flood damage when they previously owned property in the area.

The houses are in an area bordered by Canal Road on the north, East Second Street on the west, 10th Street and Gulf State Park on the east and East 21st Street and Gulf State Park on the south.

Another trial in the same lawsuit begins Monday. The judge split the case into two trials, according to Ryan, and will involve the remaining 10 plaintiffs.