Sewage spill could result in a lawsuit

didn't the house have a reverse-flow valve in the sewer line? That might relieve the town of any obligations if the original home builder cut corners.

I also find it interesting they are now complaining of continuing respiratory problems from smelling an open sewer for two hours. That seems like they are just looking for additional compensation.

regardless, the place should not be rehabbed. that kind of damage can't be safely repaired and it could eventually effect neighboring homes too.

the town ought to tear it down at their own expense and deal with an appropriate compensation later.

Maybe they should make Mr. Hurd the town manager sleep in the house a couple of nights, then he might be a little more understanding of the problem.

Every article regarding this horrible sewage backup situation has made meaningless mention of the facts that the couple who lived in the home had "mental disabilities" and the owner of the home lived off social security. Do either of these facts have any relevance in the matter? Would you report that the couple had kidney disorders?...or hypertension???...or an incurable skin rash? Would you report that a victim of this horrible situation lived off a salary as a staff writer for a newspaper?....or director of its circulation department? In my opinion there is simply NO REASON to disclose these meaningless facts.

NO REASON wrote:

Every article regarding this horrible sewage backup situation has made meaningless mention of the facts that the couple who lived in the home had "mental disabilities" and the owner of the home lived off social security. Do either of these facts have any relevance in the matter? Would you report that the couple had kidney disorders?...or hypertension???...or an incurable skin rash? Would you report that a victim of this horrible situation lived off a salary as a staff writer for a newspaper?....or director of its circulation department? In my opinion there is simply NO REASON to disclose these meaningless facts.

I agree and they plastered hi pic on the front page...more l8tr

No matter who it is what job they do or don't what anyones mental status or health statuse is, if it was caused by the town sewer then the town should have to clean it up...

The Banner forgot to mention the original offer was $10,000. Not to long before this happened there was alot of constuction on the corner above did anyone ever think this could have had somehow helped the problem occur. Not to mention Hurd admits that this is a common problem with the system since it is so old. Who cares about the homeowners "mental issues" this was their home and it held everything they owned. I wouldn't want anything in that house. Sheetrock and insulation have a tendency to absorb liquid no matter how long the exsposure cleaning an replacing the flooring will not solve the problem. This should be a total gut not to mention possible exposure to Hep A,B,C, and other transmittable diseases. The town of Bennington needs to get rid of Hurd if they ever want to protect the citizens rights of Bennington

I was implying that the town low-balled on their reimbursement offer based on the disabilities of the owners.

Hurd's assessment? screw the retards.

I might be ashamed to say it but if I knew this Guy
was a Sex Offender I would not have supported him and If I knew they were going to sue the town after getting an extra 10 grand to clean it up I would not have supported the family.

Mr Hurd was right in his assessment of the situation.

LEWD AND LASCIVIOUS CONDUCT 03-25-1997
LEWD AND LASCIVIOUS CONDUCT 01-04-1996

...and if it was YOUR home that got flooded with sewage...and if the money offered to clean it up fell considerably short of the funds needed to do it properly...would you still think the same?????

OMG1 wrote:

I might be ashamed to say it but if I knew this Guy
was a Sex Offender I would not have supported him and If I knew they were going to sue the town after getting an extra 10 grand to clean it up I would not have supported the family.
Mr Hurd was right in his assessment of the situation.
LEWD AND LASCIVIOUS CONDUCT 03-25-1997
LEWD AND LASCIVIOUS CONDUCT 01-04-1996

I would have taken the 20 grand and saved the house
Now the house is ruined beyond repair.

I could always sue later regardless.

If it were my house, I would have made sure safeties were in place preventing this type of sewage back-up before I purchased the home. Perhaps the owners should sue the builder or previous owner for not correcting this problem when the home was hooked up to the city sewer system. Maybe we should all check our sewer lines. Bottom line, this could have been prevented. An ounce of prevention.....

OMG1 wrote:

I might be ashamed to say it but if I knew this Guy
was a Sex Offender I would not have supported him and If I knew they were going to sue the town after getting an extra 10 grand to clean it up I would not have supported the family.
Mr Hurd was right in his assessment of the situation.
LEWD AND LASCIVIOUS CONDUCT 03-25-1997
LEWD AND LASCIVIOUS CONDUCT 01-04-1996

If these welfare bums are sex offenders they should be force to live in the house with the sewage. No taxpayer funds should be wasted on these savages.

OK What happened to their homeowners insurance? You file a claim with them
take the towns money and then let the insurance company fight it out for the rest?

Even if the damage is not your fault you as the homeowner have a responsibly and a duty to make sure the situation doesn't get worse. Again I would have taken the money
at least that would have gotten the sewage out of the house, the costs of repairing and replacing the damaged interior could wait.

I think they just saw dollar signs and "SUE!!!" when this all happened.

This is a very bad phenomenon in our society.

AOK wrote:

I think they just saw dollar signs and "SUE!!!" when this all happened.
This is a very bad phenomenon in our society.

Exactly! Lots of bad advice and a lawyer who flunked Business Law 101...