Problems flood couple after lift station malfunction
Alex Simon shuffled into the hallway toward the bathroom of his one-bedroom town home in Ocoee.
Before he could see anything he heard it — “slush, slush, slush.”
He flipped on the bathroom light.
“Here’s water bubbling out between the toilet and the floor,” Simon, 83, recalled. “That’s not supposed to be that way.”
The water continued flowing for hours into Alex and Irene Simon’s home on Olympic Drive through the toilet and bathtub, they said. They emptied their linen closet of its 81 towels and washcloths to soak up the liquid, which was clear at first but eventually turned brown.
They called the Ocoee Fire Department, which then contacted the city government. The city’s wastewater facilities operations
supervisor determined the backup was caused by a malfunction at a nearby lift station. That was Sept. 24. More than a month later, Alex and Irene Simon, 75, haven’t gotten anyone to commit to paying for repairs. The city’s insurance company says it’s not liable for the damage, and the couple’s insurance won’t cover it, either. A water restoration company billed the couple $6,793.64 for the cleanup.
Even worse, the couple have since both contracted infections that required hospital stays and multiple doctor appointments.
“What’s upsetting to me is that the manager of utilities for the City of Ocoee said, ‘We’ll make it right for you,’” Alex Simon said. “Well, they haven’t . ... It’s been over a month and we haven’t talked to anybody.”
‘We’re not rich’
The city’s wastewater facilities operations supervisor, Trent Hopper, wrote in an incident report the night of the backup that it had been caused by a malfunction at a nearby lift station. A bypass system that was set up by GML Coatings, a company contracted by the city to perform maintenance on the station, was supposed to run through the evening, the report shows.
The system “did not function the way it was intended and the bypass failed,” Hopper said in the report.
The backed-up sewer water poured into the couple’s unit in Lake Olympic Townhomes and “caused damage inside the home, in the hallway, bathroom, bedroom, and some of the walls,” the report noted.
Kitchen cabinets, drywall, the bathroom vanity and tile walls were damaged, according to job notes written by employees at All American Water Restoration, who used dehumidifiers and fans to dry out the home the next morning.
The Simons filed a claim with their own insurance company, Security First, but said it was denied because water damage due to backups aren’t covered, Alex Simon said.
They hoped to move into a hotel that would let them bring their three tiny dogs — a Maltese, a rat terrier and a dachshund — while their 732-square-foot townhouse is renovated. But without insurance, they said, they don’t have the money.
“We’re not rich; we’re not even mediocre,” Alex Simon said. “We cannot afford to shell out to stay in a [hotel].”
After the cleanup by the restoration company, which included ripping up some of the carpet in the hallway and bedroom and using antimicrobial wipes in the bathroom, Alex Simon said he has been dousing the home in disinfectant spray.
So far he’s gone through about five cans.
Irene Simon was admitted to a hospital Oct. 14 with a wound on her right foot. A doctor diagnosed an infection from Staphylococcus aureus, according to a hospital discharge summary provided by the couple.
He noted in a summary of the hospital visit that the couple had a sewage backup in their home and Irene was walking barefoot on the carpet.
She was prescribed antibiotics, which are administered intravenously into her arm every eight hours.
“The infection came from the sewage, from the fact that probably we were still living here, walking around,” Irene Simon said.
Alex Simon said he cut his hand in the bathroom and developed an infection. A doctor prescribed him antibiotics to treat a bacterial infection and scheduled a follow-up appointment with an infectious disease doctor a week later, discharge documents show.
Medical woes worsen
On Tuesday, Irene Simon’s foot was still wrapped in bandages with a hospital sock fitted over it. More medical issues surfaced the next day, when a stool sample revealed a gastrointestinal infection.
She said a doctor told her lab results showed the presence of a bacteria in her colon called Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff.
“I am now worse than what we thought,” Irene Simon said. “It’s very contagious and I can’t leave the room.”
She was prescribed more medication, Alex Simon said.
Their lawyer, Eric Ludwig, said he received a letter Monday from Travelers, Ocoee’s insurance provider, saying GML Coatings — not the city — is responsible for the damage to the couple’s home. Travelers forwarded the restoration invoice to the contractor, Ludwig said.
“It’s [the city’s] lift station and they hired somebody, and their employee, their agent created the problem,” Ludwig said.
“That’s just more delay and more issues for Mr. and Mrs. Simon. Someone other than the Simons needs to pay for this.”
Gene Williford, Ocoee’s risk management director, said the city filed a claim through Travelers soon after the incident, but wasn’t notified until last week that it was not liable for damages.
Even though the city contracted GML to do the work, Williford said the lift station is privately owned by the homeowners association for Lake Olympic Townhomes.
“We try to assist them in maintaining the lift station, and it needed repair work,” he said. “So we contracted with GML on behalf of the HOA to do the repair work and, as we require all contractors, GML has their own insurance coverage in case anything happens.”
GML Coatings owner Justin Randolph said Hopper told his employees on the night of the backup that the city was going to take care of the problem. He said he was “shocked” to receive a letter Tuesday from Travelers notifying the company it is liable for the damages.
Williford denied that Hopper made comments indicating the city was taking responsibility.
Randolph said he was “100 percent sure” the malfunction to the bypass system was due to a flaw in the city’s piping — not the company’s pumps, which he said never stopped working that night.
“I’m mortified that they are doing this to those people and that they are sitting there with a house in disrepair,” he said. “If anything, if they thought it was my fault, then circumvent the nonsense with the insurance company and come directly to me.”
Through a spokesperson, Travelers declined to comment.
Ludwig said he has told the city and contractor to “quit pointing fingers” while the Simons wait for repairs.
“All of a sudden everything is uprooted,” Irene Simon said. “I’m impatient, [Alex is] impatient.
“It’s very discouraging.”