A year after sewage flood, South Ozone Park families still seek compensation

South Ozone Park residents are still waiting for compensation one year after their homes were flooded with raw sewage. Eagle file photo by Rainier Harris

By David Brand and Rachel Vick

A year after a collapsed pipe flooded their homes with raw sewage, 19 South Ozone Park residents say they are still waiting for compensation from the city for property destroyed by human waste. In July, they sued the city in Queens Supreme Court after failing to negotiate a settlement.

“Our clients have lived with this issue for a year with no offers from the City to pay for their lost property and the repairs needed to make some of the homes at least livable again,” Phemister said.

The families tried to negotiate an agreement with the city before filing their lawsuit, but the city said the families had to first provide photographs of the items destroyed by the sewage flood, said plaintiffs’ attorney Craig Phemister of the firm Napoli, Shkolnik, PLLC. 

There was one problem, he said: The city had removed those items during the cleanup, making it impossible for the families to document their losses.

Phemister requested a preliminary conference on Oct. 30. The lawsuit against the city outlines the plaintiffs’ claims.

“In the process of attempting to clean up the sewage flood, the Defendants removed all of the affected personal property of the Plaintiffs and disposed of it without documenting it or photographing it in any way,” the complaint states. 

The sewage surge occurred when a 42-inch pipe crumbled and caused waste to gush into at least 74 households in South Ozone Park. The contaminated slop destroyed their possessions and left the stench of human waste behind after the filthy water subsided, plaintiffs said. Mold has also grown in the walls, they said.

The city’s Department of Environmental Protection had received numerous complaints about the deteriorating pipe ahead of the collapse, evidenced by 311 complaints and a Community Board 10 needs assessment conducted by the City Planning Commission.

In addition to compensation for their lost items, the families are also seeking money to cover the cost of housing when they were forced to leave their toxic homes and “the stress and anxiety associated with the events,” the lawsuit states.

The city Law Department did not respond to a request for comment.

The families who have joined the July lawsuit are not the only residents seeking legal assistance in their efforts to get compensation from the city.

New York Lawyers for the Public Interest launched the South Ozone Park Sewage Legal Assistance Project to connect residents with pro-bono representation to guide them through pursuing claims. The families and local elected officials will hold a rally Saturday to call on the city to provide financial relief.

The sewage surge occurred over Thanksgiving weekend in 2019, displacing the families and leaving their homes a toxic mess.

“Everything is gone downstairs,” 13-year resident Chrisitian Perez told the Eagle immediately after the flood last year.

“It was a nightmare,” added homeowner Susan Chong.