A group of Utah neighbors is trying to figure out whom to sue after raw sewage flooded their homes when a waterpark overwhelmed the city’s sewage lines.
They could sue the waterpark, of course, but the park had permits to connect its pools to the sewer, so it contends that it was not at fault when it drained its lazy river.
They could sue their sewer district, but lawyers say that governmental immunity may apply.
For the Erickson family, the nightmare began on an evening in November, 2023, as they were headed downstairs for a movie night and were greeted with a cesspool rising up from the drains of their showers, sinks, bathtubs, and floor drains. By the end of the evening, six inches of raw sewage (including feces and toilet paper) had flooded the lower level of their home.
The Ericksons were among 11 other households whose homes had been partially destroyed by a sewage incident of epic proportions.
What had happened was the Cherry Hill Water Park — located upslope from the Farmington, Utah, neighborhood — had drained its 150,000-gallon lazy river into the sewer system and had totally overwhelmed its capacity.
When it happened, the community rallied together, moving furniture from each other’s basements.
Then residents called the Central Davis Sewer District, which sent a crew to look over the damages. A representative from the district said it would cover the cost of cleanups to the tune of $4,000 per home and suggested the neighbors needed to do little more than put out carpet fans.
The neighbors thought it was going to take a lot more than that.
They got estimates on mitigation, cleanup, and restoration and were quoted between $30,000 and $115,000, depending on the house.
Today, they can’t use their homes the way they did prior to the sewage flood.
The Ericksons’ teenage son used to sleep in the basement. Now, he’s displaced and sleeping in his little brother’s room. They have a kitchen in the basement and a much-needed bathroom, too. And they were forced to cancel their holiday plans because they lost the space to host out-oftown guests.
According to the sewage district, the fault lies with the Cherry Hill Water Park, which admits it drained its lazy river. The district says the sewer has a capacity for handling 380 gallons per minute, but the discharge that evening was 625 gallons per minute.
Cherry Hill said that it discharged the water at the same rate as what it has been doing for the last 20 years.
The neighbors appealed to the sewage district, which ultimately paid out a total of about $9,600 per household. A spokesperson for the district said that while the Cherry Hill Water Park is responsible for the incident, “the district has advanced initial reimbursements to the homeowners pursuant through its ‘no fault’ policy to help with cleanup expenses. This is all we can legally do.”
After seven months of fighting for payments from the two insurance adjusters, the neighbors got an email from Cherry Hill’s insurance agent, saying it is “currently unable to offer recovery assistance based upon applicable policy exclusions.”
Adding insult to injury, Cherry Hill’s agents said the residents were partially responsible for the damages because their homes did not have backflow preventers on their sewer laterals.
The neighbors tried their own homeowners’ insurance and were told that had the flooding originated on their properties, it would have been covered. Because it originated somewhere else, it is not.
The sewage district is trying to hold the waterpark accountable, threatening legal action if the Cherry Hill Water Park does not respond in a satisfactory manner and compensate the homeowners.
It has been eight months now, and there are still 11 households that cannot use about a third of their homes while they wait for someone to do the right thing.
