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By Julie Akins For the Tidings January 31. 2016 5:09PM Family asks city to pay for sewage spill After: The Shaffer family home on Morton Street had to be stripped of walls and floors after it became a biohazard due to a backed-up city sewage line. Submitted photo It's been three months since a city of Ashland sewer line backed up into Caroline Shaffer’s Morton Street home forming what she describes as a geyser of excrement. Shaffer has been unable to live in her house with her husband, four children and 80-year-old mother since the first week of November and she is tens of thousands of dollars in debt trying to clean it up. The city of Ashland gave her family an emergency payment of $24,000 and they’ve offered a total of $225,000, but in adding up the bills, Shaffer and her attorney say it’s about half of what it will actually cost to clean up the bio-hazard from thousands of gallons of pressurized sewage spewing through the home and rebuild much of the home. “They’re going to be in dire straits and it’s not a position they should be in,” says Shaffer’s attorney Daryl Jarvis. “If your (sewage) goes into someone’s home, you pay to clean it up,” Shaffer said. Adding to her frustration, Shaffer says the city has not come to see her house, assessed what went wrong or even told her how this happened. Her plumber, however, told her city workers were repairing a manhole cover and in the process a brick slipped down and blocked the pressurized sewer line, which backed up directly into their downstairs bathroom and caused sewage to shoot out through her toilet. She says she has not personally heard from anyone at the city. “I expected," she said, "someone from the city to bring me an apology or flowers or incense to get the smell out of my nostrils.” It started just after 4 in the afternoon, according to Shaffer, and “By 6:20 sewage is pouring out of every orifice of the house.” In total, she said it took the city four hours to respond, which caused greater damage as the sewage seeped through the floors and into the joists of the home, rising several feet up and through the walls. Her attorney, Jarvis, says he was told the amount offered is the cap available through insurance. Limits of liability protect the city from having to pay more. The possible exception is a clause that would allow for greater payment if it could be argued that it would be in the public interest of residents of the city of Ashland, says Jarvis. “The rest of the citizens would want to know the city would take care of them if something like this happened. It is in the public interest.” Meantime, Shaffer’s family remains unsettled. Her mother has moved to San Francisco, and her oldest children, who are twins, have been split apart for their last year in high school because their temporary home is not big enough to house them all. “Suddenly our lives here have been turned upside down," Shaffer says through tears while also describing the family photos, keepsakes such as a child’s travel box which included every trip they took and the re-homing of pets as part of their loss. "It’s our last year together as a family and the city took this away from us.” Shaffer, her family, friends and attorney plan to make a presentation to the Ashland City Council during the public comment period at the Feb. 16 meeting. She is hoping city councilors will make up the shortfall between what insurance will pay and what it costs to restore their home, essentially “making them whole” from the damages. If the city council does not, Jarvis said, “we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” In a letter to the city there is mention of a possible tort claim for negligence should the Shaffer’s not be paid the full cost of restoration. The city referred a request for more information to a Portland attorney dealing with the case, but calls to the attorney were not promptly returned. Mayor John Stromberg issued a written statement, reading in its entirety: “Because litigation has been threatened, I have been advised by our legal counsel and by the insurer handling this unfortunate matter that I cannot comment on the facts or the claims in the case without violating my legal responsibilities to protect the interests of the City and its taxpayers.” Email Ashland freelance writer Julie Akins at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/@julieakins.       http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20160131/NEWS/160139986 © 2016 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->