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One Year After Queens Sewage Flood, Some Residents Are Still Seeking Compensation
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Nov 29, 2020
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Jim O'Grady / WNYC
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Nov 29, 2020
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About a year after dozens of Queens residents' homes were flooded with raw sewage after an old pipe collapsed, some homeowners are still seeking compensation for the damage.
Homeowners in South Ozone Park rallied Saturday demanding full compensation from the city after a 42-inch pipeline collapsed last November, destroying dozens of families' property and implicating their health due to mold damage.
One homeowner, Janice Harmon, told CBS2 she had to "get rid of everything and get all new mattresses, pillows, clothing." She was offered around $10,000, according to the news channel, adding she felt "disgusted" and "heartbroken" about the disaster that left dozens of families with sewage flooded basements.
Harmon is among 19 residents who sued the city this summer, alleging the city removed and threw away sewage-destroyed belongings without properly documenting them.
The group of residents also alleged the city "failed to make the necessary inspections and repairs" to the pipe, which was installed in 1987, according to the complaint.
"Our clients have lived with this issue for a year with no offers from the City to pay for their lost property and the repairs needed to make some of the homes at least livable again," one of the residents' lawyers, Craig Phemister, told the Queens Daily Eagle.
The city's Law Department spokesperson Nick Paolucci said in a statement, "The City and Comptroller’s Office are working jointly to try to resolve these cases."
Residents are demanding full compensation from City Comptroller Scott Stringer, whose office administers compensation claims for damages at the fault of the city. Some haven't received anything at all, while others haven't received enough compensation, residents' lawyers say.
The comptroller's office notes that 86 of 101 claims filed to his office have been offered settlements, or about 85%. Of those, 61 claimants have received a total of $755,012.
"Our team has been working since day one with impacted residents to help them return to their homes and receive what they are owed," said a spokesperson for the comptroller, Hazel Crampton-Hays. "Comptroller Stringer toured the area and met with homeowners, our office approved emergency contracts to clean up all affected homes and replace damaged heating and hot water equipment, and our staff went door-to-door and were stationed on the ground to provide support, disseminate claims forms, and help navigate the claims process."
The comptroller's office said mandatory interviews typically held in Manhattan were relocated to South Ozone Park to make it easier for residents, and days after the sewage flood, Stringer's office approved emergency contracts to speed up the clean-up process and help residents navigate the claims process.
"We’re committed to this important work and doing everything possible to help New Yorkers get back on their feet," she added.
Some claimants haven't appeared for a hearing or provided full information, but Stringer's office says they continue to try to get in touch with them.
But residents say the process for filing a claim to the comptroller's office has been confusing.
A group of lawyers with the New York Lawyers for Public Interest have formed the South Ozone Park Sewage Legal Assistance Project to help residents get fully compensated by connecting them to pro bono assistance from private law firms.
In an announcement about the new project, NYPLI wrote: "Some ultimately received offers of compensation amounting to a fraction of the value they reported losing. Others were still waiting for offers almost a year after the disaster, and reported newer problems affecting their homes and implicating their health, like mold."
Last year, the city's Department of Environmental Protection initially implied residents were at fault for disposing grease down the drains. But later, the DEP took the blame for an old pipe busting.
"These types of events are extremely rare," DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza told the NY Times last year. "But, you know, once every five years or so, something like this occurs."
This article has been updated with a statement from the Law Department.
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sewage
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compensation
south ozone park
queens
Sydney Pereira
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