BALTIMORE — Sewage backups in homes can result in significant financial losses for homeowners, but when they file claims seeking reimbursement from Baltimore City, most are denied.
Attorney Jane Santoni, a partner with Santoni, Vocci, & Ortega, LLC, has been handling these cases for the past decade. She provided WMAR-2 News Mallory Sofastaii with video of a sewage backup in one of her client's home. A geyser of waste is seen spewing from a toilet and into the home. It’s a disgusting sight, but not an uncommon one for Santoni.
“A foot of raw sewage in their basement, they get into the HVAC units, they get into their kids’ clothes, their mattresses, I mean, just disgusting,” said Santoni.
She fights on behalf of homeowners seeking compensation from the city to cover the cleanup and damages caused by sewage backups.
"When we started filing suit, we would do an investigation and we found that it rarely, if ever, was rags and grease. It was usually a line that had not been properly maintained, or a line that had been broken and not fixed. So, it's something having to do with the city's responsibility," Santoni added.
According to data obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request, in the last 5 years, 307 claims related to sewer backup issues were filed with the city’s Law Department. Of those, only 18 percent of claims were approved, while 65 percent were denied. The remaining 17 percent are still pending. The average amount paid to claimants was $6,110, but they had to wait, on average, 370 days before receiving a check after filing a report.
Santoni acknowledged the challenges faced by the city in dealing with an aging infrastructure. "I think it's a frustrating problem for the city that these pipes are old. Maintenance is expensive. So, I can understand that this is not easy for the city to have to deal with,” she said.
The city's deteriorating century-old system has resulted in sewage overflows for several decades. In response to numerous Clean Water Act violations, the federal government entered into a consent decree with the city, requiring infrastructure upgrades. In 2016, the terms of the agreement were extended and renegotiated, with the city agreeing to implement new programs to expedite the reimbursement process and assist homeowners with cleanup efforts.
However, Santoni expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of these programs. "While I'm grateful that the city is trying to put programs in place to help, my experience has been that they are rarely sufficient,” she said.
READ MORE: City denies flooded basement claim, leaves homeowner with thousands in damages
Since the implementation of the Sewage Backup Expedited Reimbursement Program in 2018, only 19 applications have been approved and 171 were denied, according to quarterly reports submitted by the Baltimore City Department of Public Works to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).
Meanwhile, there were over 1,440 reported backups between January and March of 2023.
The terms of the program have limitations as well, only covering up to $5,000 in damages, with a strict filing period, and applying solely to backups caused by wet weather events.
Santoni emphasized the importance of filing a claim despite the challenges involved. She advised homeowners to promptly notify the city and their insurance company of the backup, hire professional restoration services, document and photograph the damages, and prioritize their health.
"Literally, you're getting pooped on. I mean, literally, you don't have to take that. I think human beings have more dignity than that and they should exercise that dignity and fight back,” added Santoni.
The city recommends homeowners install a backflow valve to mitigate the risk of backups. However, the cost of installation can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. To be eligible for the expedited reimbursement program, homeowners must report the backup within 24 hours or file a liability claim with the city within one year of the incident.
To learn more about the city’s sewer basement backup reimbursement and clean-up programs, click here.
Homeowners can also file a claim with the Baltimore City Law Department.
Sofastaii reached out to the Mayor’s Office for their response to these statistics and if Mayor Scott is considering taking action to assist more homeowners impacted by sewer backups. A spokeswoman sent the statement below:
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) has made considerable progress to assist residents impacted by sewage backups caused by wet-weather or heavy rain events, both through the expedited reimbursement program and through the numerous other steps the City can take for homeowners. Under the Sewage Onsite Support (SOS), the City offers no-cost cleaning and disinfection to homeowners or tenants. DPW’s long-term plan is to replace the Building Backup Expedited Reimbursement Program (BBERP) with the SOS program. BBERP is part of the Modified Consent Decree agreement and EPA’s approval is required to implement this change. In October 2021, DPW launched a pilot program to install Backflow preventers at no cost to the residents who have faced multiple basement backups. DPW is working to improve City’s sewer capacity by adding additional sewer mains under the Phase II of the Modified Consent Decree and to implement a plan to proactively inspect large sewer mains. In future, these steps will significantly reduce the number of building backups that occur in Baltimore City.
Much of the determination of payment in the case of sewer backups is based upon liability. General liability sewer backup claims against the City are denied, or closed, if it is determined that there is a lack of negligence on the part of the City. Claim denials may be based on the following:
• the claim investigation determines that the City did not cause the backup;
• the City responded to the backup in a reasonable manner;
• the City did not have prior notice of defect that caused the backup (such as tree roots, a cracked or collapsed line, rags/grease/debris building up); or
• the backup was determined to be within the claimant’s own sewer line/lateral.