Lisle Watchdog

Friday, May 9, 2014

The Flood Lawsuit: Class Action Against the Village of Lisle



One day shy of the one year anniversary of the April 18, 2013 flood, Farmer's Insurance filed a "class action" lawsuit against the Village of Lisle, DuPage County and nearly every other municipality in the County.

Lisle Watchdog has obtained an official copy of the entire 60-page complaint. Click HERE.


Counts Against Village of Lisle

1. Breach of 745 ILCS 3-102(a) because the Village of Lisle breached its duty to the Plaintiff to safely maintain and operate its stormwater sewer(s) and/or sanitary sewer(s) proximately causing sewer water invasions into it's Plaintiff's properties which directly and immediately resulted in property damage to its Plaintiff subclass on the Occurrence Date.

2. Breach of 745 ILCS 2-103(a) because the Village of Lisle breached its duty to its Plaintiffs to remedy sewer defects which created unreasonable safe conditions hazardous to its Plaintiffs, proximately causing sewer water invasions into its Plaintiff's properties which directly and immediately resulted in property damage to its Plaintiffs subclass on the Occurrence Date.

3. Violation of the Taking Clause of the Illinois Constitution, being Article 1, Section  15, and the Taking Clause of the U.S Constitution, being the Fifth Amendment, because the Village of Lisle misappropriated its Plaintiff's properties for a public use as the Village of Lisle's sewer water detention and/or retention basins without just compensation proximately causing sewer water invasions into its Plaintiff's properties which directly and immediately resulted in property damage to its Plaintiffs subclass on the Occurrence Date.

"Sewer Water Invasion" is defined to mean: Stormwater and/or sanitary sewer water intrusion onto and/or into a Member of the Plaintiff's class home, building, business and/or other real and/or personal property.




                                                    click image to enlarge.


Class Action

Farmer's is seeking "class action" to include the following parties that suffered property and/or other economic loss arising frm a stormwater and/or sanitary sewer water invasion on April 17-19, 2013 as Plaintiffs:

1.  Property Insurance Companies
2.  Insureds of these Property Insurance Companies
3.  Property owners


Key Facts of the Complaint

The complaint alleges that Village of Lisle conducted studies and knew of key dangerous and hazardous defects in the stormwater system and the sanitary sewer system. The complaint further alleges that the Village of Lisle failed to provide safe and adequate mitigation stormwater storage and that the Village failed to provide safe and adequate barriers such as temporary or permanent levees  to protect the Plaintiff's property from damage.


Next Steps

An appearance is scheduled for July 15, 2014, 9:00 am, Room 2016, DuPage Courthouse.


Looking Back

Chicago Tribune July 23, 2013
"Lisle officials said the flooding that occurred in April likely caused their community the greatest dollar amount of damage in the state, considering suburban property values as compared to land in rural areas.
"I can't begin to imagine what you're going through with your house, because certainly the longer you wait, there's potential for additional damage," said Hettich."

Lisle Patch March 2011 
"Young said the levees have not been repaired for many years and the Village Board has been trying to address this. "I am concerned that they haven't been repaired and if they should breech, that would be catostrophic," Young said."


East Branch DuPage River Study July 2012

Existing conditions assessment of the East Branch River Levee and Recommendations for Levee System Design, Levee System Maintenance, and Levve System Operations.

Ten Things Mayor Broda Failed to Tell the People of Lisle  - Part 1 Jan 2014

"The Village has no master plan to fix the river levees and no stormwater management plan to address a 100 yr flood."

Special Flood Meeting July 2013 (starting 1:58:00)

"We know the levees are two feet low in some places..."  - Lisle engineer M. Kalsted





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