Resolution to sinkhole saga
Macomb County district receives $12.5M settlement
AM a comb County drainage district will receive $12.5 million in a settlement with three contractors that were responsible for the “human error” activity for the Fraser sinkhole nearly four years ago.
Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller announced the deal Tuesday on the property where one of two houses was demolished due to the catastrophic sewer collapse that required $70 million to fix. A third house was damaged and repaired.
Miller said the award to the Macomb Interceptor Drainage District is the largest ever received by Macomb County government or governmental agency.
“We’re feeling very good about that award,” Miller said. “It was really a team effort” to obtain the settlement. “Manypeople saidwe wouldn’t collect anything.”
The settlement will be paid by AIG insurance company on behalf of the three defendants – contractors Jay Dee Contractors and Inland Waters Pollution Control, and a subcontractor, Metco Services.
The lawsuit was filed in April 2019 in Macomb County Circuit Court and was assigned to Judge Joseph Toia.
A mediator recommended the settlement amount.
The case is scheduled to be dismissed in November because of the deal.
The $12.5 million to be paid to the Macomb Interceptor Drainage District will be used for a $28-million project to reinforce 2 miles of pipe west of the sinkhole site to ensure a sinkhole never occurs again, Miller said.
“After the sinkhole on 15 Mile, I vowed we’re never going to have a sinkhole here again,” she said.
The collapse occurred Christmas Eve 2016 under 15Mile Road between Utica and Hayes roads.
In explaining how it occurred, Miller said a forensic engineer discovered an error was made 2½ years earlier during a sewer project in east Oakland County that went awry. Sewer flow, which had been temporarily blocked for work to be completed, was released over several minutes when it should have been released over 2½ to 3 hours.
The sudden restart resulted in rush of water that created a “sewer hammer” that cracked the sewer line 65 feet under 15 Mile Road at Eberlein Drive, Miller said.
The crack created in May 2014 allowed silty sand to seep into the pipe and slowly create a void, leading to a full collapse the size of a football field in December 2016. It caused the initial evacuation of 22 homes.
“It took 2½ years to manifest itself,” she said. “A human error was made. That’s why you have insurance.”
It occurred days before Republican Miller took office after defeating incumbent Democrat Anthony Marrocco for the commissioner post in the November election.