FEBRUARY 23, 2015
SPEARFISH, SOUTH DAKOTA
Sluggish sewers, smelly backups and
insurance squabbles have led 13 local residents to file lawsuits against the
City of Spearfish, claiming its negligence led to tens of thousands of dollars
in damages to their homes.
Stretching back to 2008, some residences near Eighth and
Hudson streets have sustained a series of backups, as recently as last October,
that have flooded basements with raw sewage and stormwater, leaving in its wake
stinking messes, lost possessions and frustrated homeowners.
Because the lawsuits are still active, Spearfish City
Attorney Tom Brady declined to respond to the specific cases. But he cautioned
that the city is not necessarily liable for any damage caused by an
infrastructure problem.
In an email, Brady wrote: "Backups do and will occur
which is the very nature of a sanitary system. Users of the system have risk.
Such an event may be as the result of the condition or location of their
service line or some other cause for which the city is not responsible. All
homeowners can insure against such risk, which many do, and unfortunately some
do not.”
One couple, Jennifer and Adrian Netterberg, bought their
first home at 320 E. Hudson St. in 2007 and renovated their basement to allow
for an apartment and a source of extra income. Soon after the first tenants
moved in, the Netterbergs received a phone call on June 6, 2008, informing them
that their basement apartment was flooding.
“It was bad, really bad,” Jennifer Netterberg recalled on
Monday. “This was sewage water with a mixture of stormwater too. There were
leaves in it, and it stunk horribly.”
They immediately called their insurance company and ran a
camera down the floor drain to determine if a clog or tree roots were the cause
of the backup.
“The line was completely clear,” Jennifer Netterberg said.
“So we contacted the city and filed a claim for the damage, but they told us
there wasn’t anything they could do. They sent an insurance adjuster over, but
then they claimed they had no liability.”
As the Netterbergs re-renovated the damaged basement and
argued over liability with the city and its insurance carrier, the sewage
backups occurred again in May and October 2013, leaving the couple with more
damage and renters who decided to move out.
All told, the Netterbergs say they have suffered $40,000 in
damages to their home in the three incidents.
Down the road at 644 N. 8th St., the Netterbergs’ neighbor,
Pete Davis, said Monday his 1926 Swiss chalet-style house had sustained $25,000
in damages in a May 2013 backup that left 3 inches of raw sewage throughout his
1,000-square-foot basement.
“It left a huge mess and basically destroyed the bottom half
of anything associated with the walls,” Davis said. “It destroyed the woodwork,
the trim and damaged personal items. The carpet was ruined, the vinyl flooring
was unusable, and for us and our teenage sons, it was quite disruptive.”
When a second sewer backup occurred in October 2013, Davis
and his wife, Jacqueline Wyatt, spoke with city representatives who told them
the city was not liable for their damage.
“We really want to just get compensated for our loss so we
can pay for the repairs,” Davis, a retired chemist, said. “And, we want the
city to own up to the fact the infrastructure was rotten, and that they
basically denied it. Probably the thing that has been most infuriating is the
city’s denial of any wrongdoing. They seem to be spending an enormous amount of
money on legal fees instead of just compensating homeowners. They could have
paid us out instead of paying attorneys.”
The Netterbergs and Davis are among a growing list of
Spearfish residents who have gone beyond accepting the city’s denial of
liability and have hired a Rapid City attorney to gain satisfaction.
That attorney, John Fitzgerald, said he represents 13
plaintiffs whose eight Spearfish residences sustained significant damage as the
result of negligence on the part of the city in maintaining adequate sewer
lines within the city. Fitzgerald said Monday afternoon that the issue, slated
for trial on July 22 in Fourth Judicial Circuit Court in Deadwood, is
relatively simple.
“The Eighth Street sewer line is too small,” Fitzgerald
said. “Our expert will show the jury that this particular sewer line has a
capacity for 1,000 gallons per minute of fluid. In the dead of winter or on
Dec. 10, 2014, there was 800 gallons per minute of fluid going through that
line. So there is a margin of 200 gallons per minute until that line is at full
capacity. If it receives more than 200 gpm in inflow or infiltration, it will
back up.”
Fitzgerald said his hydrologists had found that rain water
and snow melt were infiltrating the sewer line, rather than being captured by
the city’s storm-sewer system.
“Many experts have reviewed this, and we know of
infiltration in excess of 200 gpm,” he said, adding, “It’s too small of a line
to accommodate for mistakes, for neglect, and for problems with the sewer line.”
While Fitzgerald declined to discuss the total amount his
clients seek in damages from the city, he said the lawsuits seek more than
money.
“More than anything," he said, "the plaintiffs in
this lawsuit want their lives to return to normal.”
Although Brady, the city attorney, wouldn't comment directly
on the lawsuits, he wrote in his email that the city had hired HDR Engineering
to perform a study of the sewer line in question, had smoke-tested much of the
city sewer system, and had installed a bypass line last year to redirect some
of the flow from the Eighth Street sewer line.
He wrote: “Whenever there is any event involving city
infrastructure (whether it is the streets, water system, sanitary sewer system,
storm sewer system, sidewalks, parks or whatever), the staff of Spearfish, who
are exceptionally qualified and dedicated individuals, take appropriate
measures to determine the cause and to implement a plan of action to remediate
the circumstance if reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances.”
As attorneys in the sewer lawsuits prepare for trial, the
Netterbergs are attempting to clean up a lingering mess, raise their 1- and
4-year-old boys, and fill their still-vacant downstairs apartment.
“This is our first house," Jennifer Netterberg said,
"and it hasn’t been a great experience for us.”
Source: www.rapidcityjournal.com
//---------------------------------------------------------//
COPING WITH SEWER BACKUPS
GENERAL INFORMATION: A sewer backup creates a stressful and emotional
situation for the
homeowner/renter. In some cases it
may cause health and safety concerns as well as significant property loss. A proper response to a sewer backup
can greatly minimize
property damage and diminish the threat of illness.
The City of
Spearfish makes every effort to be
responsive to residents' needs and concerns when a sewer backup occurs. The City
has a crew whose duty is to inspect,
clean and maintain sewers on
a daily basis during the months when weather
allows. Unfortunately,
because a sewer is not a closed
system, many things put
into the sewer can clog
the system. Large amounts
of grease
from restaurants, disposable (and cloth) diapers, and tree roots are common items that cause
problems. While The City
has adopted rules
prohibiting the discharge of any substance likely
to cause a sewer obstruction, and can try to educate
the public about the
problems they cause, there is
really no way we can
absolutely prevent this from happening.
Many homeowners' insurance policies exclude
damage resulting from sewer
backups. However, some insurance
companies do provide sewer backup coverage. If
you are concerned about the possibility of a sewer backup and want to insure
that you are covered, the City of Spearfish urges
you to check with your home insurer regarding the availability of
sewer backup insurance.
CONTACT INFORMATION: If you
experience a sewer problem, please call the City
of Spearfish Public Works Department at 642-1333
from 7am-4pm Monday through
Friday or the Police Department at 642-1300 after
hours and weekends and state that you are
reporting a sewer emergency. Backed
up
sewer lines, line breaks, sewage
odors, and overflowing manholes are considered an emergency.
If the problem is in
the sewer lateral, the homeowner or business is responsible for correcting the
problem. The owner of the property is
responsible for maintaining and cleaning the sewer lateral from the building
(or home) to the sewer main,
including the connection on the sewer main.
Locating the lateral is
also the
responsibility of the property owner. Several plumbers also have special
locating equipment,
which will be helpful.
If the problem is in
the sewer lateral, whom do you call
for help? You will need to call a
plumber or sewer/drain cleaning service.
Please check your Yellow
Pages; the City cannot make a recommendation. It may be in your best interest to obtain more than one estimate.
REMEMBER TO CALL
THE CITY FIRST before calling a plumber. We will check the sewer
main and inform
you of our findings. If the problem
is not in the main line
sewer, you will be advised
to contact
a plumber or sewer/drain cleaning
service.
LATERAL vs. MAIN: What is
a sewer lateral? A sewer lateral
or house lateral is the pipe line
between the sewer main, usually located in the street, and the building. The sewer lateral is owned and maintained by
the property owner including any part,
which may extend into the
street or public right of
way.
More often than not,
the cause of a backup in your lateral is from items that the line is not meant
to handle, such as kid's toys, underwear, towels, diapers, paper products (other
than toilet paper),
keys and even false teeth.
To avoid flushing these items, remember to close the toilet lid. What you flush down the toilet
may not affect you, but it might cause
problems for your neighbors! Another
possible cause would be roots in your lateral. The lateral is the responsibility of the
owner of the property from the house to the street.
WAYS TO PREVENT BACKUPS IN YOUR LATERAL AND THE MAIN LINE
SEWER: The property
owner can do many things
to prevent the lateral from backing
up. Remember too, that the very same
things can help to prevent backups in the sewer main as well. If
everyone would be careful about how they dispose of certain products, our systems would be a great deal
more efficient, cause fewer backups,
cost us all less money,
and prevent a lot of misery.
Grease: Cooking oil
should be poured into a
heat-resistant container and disposed
of, after it cools off, in the garbage, not the drain.
Some people assume that
washing grease down the drain with hot water is satisfactory. This grease goes down the drain, cools off,
and solidifies either in the
drain, the property owner’s line, or in the main sewer. When this happens, the line constricts,
and eventually clogs.
Paper Products: Paper towels,
disposable and cloth
diapers and feminine products cause a great
deal of problems
in the property owner's
lateral as well as in the sewer main. These
products do not deteriorate quickly, as does bathroom tissue. They become lodged in portions of the
lateral/main, causing a sewer
backup. These products should also be disposed of in
the garbage.