Insurance Co. Sues County, 12 Towns Over Flood Damage
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Chicago Tribune | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The lawsuit, by
The lawsuit, filed about two weeks ago, lists the county, as well as
Similar lawsuits were filed on the same day in
Some "sewer water invasions" of affected properties in the
"Many sanitary sewer water invasions ... were so rapid that geysers of sewer water shot out from floor drains, toilets, showers and other basement floor openings," the suit alleges.
While the plaintiff's attorney declined to comment on the specifics of the complaint, the lawsuit states that hundreds of claims could be included in the proposed class action.
"The common, central and fundamental issue in this action is whether the Defendants have failed to safely operate retention basins, detention basins, tributary enclosed sewers and tributary open sewers/drains for the purpose of safely conveying stormwater," the lawsuit states.
Mayors for most of the towns listed as defendants in the complaint did not return requests for comment Monday and Tuesday.
Citing the ongoing nature of the litigation,
The mayors of
"It's really hard to write rules and regulations for Mother Nature," Collins said of the flooding, which saw a portion of downtown
Members of the potential plaintiff's class sustained uninsured losses to their properties and possessions due to the flooding, and the insurers paid money to policy holders for property damage and "emergency restoration and remediation of sewer waste contaminated homes," the suit states.
"Farmers has taken what we believe is the necessary action to recover payments made on behalf of our customers, for damages caused by what we believe to be a completely preventable issue, as well as to prevent it from happening again," Farmers spokesman
Given the number of claims, claimants and damages involved, the class action is the appropriate method for fair and efficient adjudication of the case, the lawsuit states.
The suit alleges the towns had "actual or constructive notice" of sewer defects based on prior incidents and investigations of those past incidents.
The potential danger of failing to properly manage stormwater and sanitary sewer systems "was foreseeable and greatly outweighed the practicability and cost of proper management of its sewers," the lawsuit states.
The governments should have been prepared for a higher volume of rain that would fall more intensely and for a longer duration due to climate changes during the past 40 years, the lawsuit states.
The rain that fell on those two days in
It was not an "'Act of God' rainfall," the lawsuit states.
"If this defendant had adopted reasonable stormwater management practices, the sewer water invasions suffered...would not have occurred," the lawsuit alleges.
Some of the towns named in the
Councilmen approved a handful of projects
She said last year that the foul water eventually crested at about the fourth stair from the bottom of her staircase into the basement.
The cloudy water smelled awful and had tissue floating in it, she said.
"It was dirty with all the feces and everything," she said.
Bhumnugkij signed an agreement with the village promising to not sue
She said her insurance company would not cover the damage because it was sewage-related.
Eventually everything was cleaned up, but Bhumnugkij said the noxious flood's effects lingered.
"All my kids' pictures, the antique stuff, are gone," she said. "We couldn't save it. The water was contaminated. We got paid, but we couldn't get those memories."
[email protected] --
___
(c)2014 the Chicago Tribune
Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Wordcount: | 953 |
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News