Appeal of Claim by Shirley WiegandTHE CITY OF
DUtJE MEMORANDUM
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
BARRY LINDA
CITY ATTOR E
To: Mayor Roy D. Buol and
Members of the City Council
DATE: October 9, 2013
RE: Shirley Wiegand Claim
This is a claim for property damage to the residence at 1375 Kaufmann Avenue
resulting from a sanitary sewer backup which occurred on April 8, 2013. The claimant
asked for reimbursement in the amount of $6,208.81 for property damage and cleanup
costs.
The claim was referred to Iowa Public Entity Risk Services (PERS), the adjustor for the
City's Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP) Program, for investigation on April 26,
2013. PERS investigated the claim and concluded that the damage to the claimant's
property was not a result of any negligence on the part of the City because the City had
no actual or constructive notice of a defect in the sanitary sewer line which resulted in
the sewer backup. PERS notified claimant on May 2, 2013 that the claim was being
denied.
The property owner appealed from that denial and the matter was referred back to the
City Attorney's Office for further investigation at the September 16, 2013 City Council
meeting.
We reviewed the claim and the circumstances of the sewer backup with Street & Sewer
Maintenance Supervisor John Klostermann who confirmed that the City had no actual or
constructive notice of a blocked sewer line prior to the sewer backup. Following the
sewer backup, the sewer line was inspected and it was determined that the cause of the
backup were tree roots that had grown into the sewer line. The tree roots have been
removed.
Under Iowa law, a City is not liable for damage caused by sewer backup unless the City
had actual knowledge or constructive notice of a defect prior to the sewer backup in
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY DUBUQUE, IOWA
SUITE 330, HARBOR VIEW PLACE, 300 MAIN STREET DUBUQUE, IA 52001 -6944
TELEPHONE (563) 583 -4113 / FAx (563) 583 -1040 / EMAIL balesq @cityofdubuque.org
time to have corrected the defect. Based upon the lack of such knowledge or notice in
this case, it is the recommendation of the City Attorney's Office that the claim be denied.
BAL:tts
cc: Shirley Wiegand
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Kevin Firnstahl - "Contact Us" inquiry from City of Dubuque website
From: "Citizen Support Center" <dubuqueia @mycusthelp.com>
To: < kfirnsta @cityofdubuque.org>
Date: 10/21/2013 12:49 PM
Subject: "Contact Us" inquiry from City of Dubuque website
Contact Us
Name: Lisa A Lepsch
Phone: 563- 495 -5292
Email: monavila63 @yahoo.com
City Department: City Council
6/3
Message: In regards to the denial of a claim filed for a city sewer system back up in my mother's residence at 1375 Kaufamnn
ave., Dubuque. In a letter to the city council, from Mr. Lindahl, dated October 9,2013, it states the claim was referred to the
Iowa Public Entity Risk Services(PERS), the adjustor for the City's Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP) program. And
after investigation concluded the property damage was not a result of negligence on the part of the city. We disagree with this
decision. It seems the main sewer line that caused the back -up was not on any type of scheduled maintenance, which to me is
a type of negligence. If anything is not properly maintained it is simply a matter of time before it's integrity is
compromised.The user fees collected from the citizens of Dubuque are to be used to maintain the city's sewer system. My
mother paid these fees and still incurred a $3,000.00 bill for the cleaning and decontamination of her residence, not to
mention the $3,000.00 loss in personal property. This whole claim process has trying, but what's most upsetting is being told
by the claims adjustor for ICAP , that they were advised by the city of Dubuque to deny the claim. The same people who had
been advising us as to how to recover some of our losses were in fact the ones keeping us from reaching that goal. Not
wanting to believe this, we talked with Mr. Klostermann. He was able to confirm both the non - maintenance of the sewer line
and the recommendation of the claim denial to be true. As life -long residence of Dubuque, the faith confidence and pride we
once had in our community has defmitely wavered. We feel as if the whole claim process was some type of game to
somehow humor us, when in fact, the city knew from the very beginning this claim was to be denied. We understand the city
must have many claims to contend with, but this event was not the result of something my mother did or did not do. It was
the result of something the city of Dubuque failed to do. Thank you for your time & attention regarding this matter. Lisa A
Lepsch C/O Shirley A. Wiegand 1375 Kaufmann Ave. Dubuque, Iowa 52001
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