Michigan is off the hook in lawsuit over 2020 dam collapse that flooded communities

DETROIT (AP) — The state of Michigan was cleared of liability Thursday in a disastrous 2020 dam failure that flooded communities, destroyed more than 100 homes and drained a popular lake.

Court of Claims Judge James Redford acknowledged the “real and lasting damages” of the Edenville Dam failure. But he said days of relentless rain and an unprecedented 100-year flood triggered the calamity in the Midland area, not the state-authorized level of Wixom Lake.

Redford cited experts who said a lower lake level before the disaster was unlikely to have prevented the catastrophe.

“This does not mean that what plaintiffs suffered and continue to suffer is not an immensely difficult and heavy burden,” the judge said in a 100-page opinion that followed a January trial in Grand Rapids.

Lawyers representing thousands of people sued the state, claiming decisions by environmental regulators contributed to the dam collapse and ruined property values and their enjoyment of Wixom Lake, 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.

If Redford had ruled in favor of property owners, the case would have moved next to financial recovery.

“It’s very disappointing. I know our clients are devastated,” attorney Ven Johnson said. “That’s why God created appellate courts.”

The judge said the dam failure could not be likened, as lawyers for the plaintiffs argued, to the 2014-15 Flint water crisis in which key decisions by the state caused lead to leach from oil pipes and spoil the system.

The privately owned dam on the Tittabawassee River produced hydroelectricity until a federal license was revoked in 2018. A reservoir behind the dam is known as Wixom Lake. The dam was in the process of being turned over to area residents when the failure occurred, releasing a torrent that also overtopped the downstream Sanford Dam and flooded the city of Midland.

The lake rose more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) above its normal level and 3 feet (0.9 meters) higher than the highest level recorded in 1929. The east side of the dam’s soil embankment was overwhelmed and became unstable. Since the failure, Wixom Lake is being slowly restored.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked experts to study what happened at the Edenville and Sanford dams. The 2022 report said failure was “foreseeable and preventable” but could not be “attributed to any one individual, group or organization.”

The former owner, Boyce Hydro, filed for bankruptcy protection after the disaster.