KINGWOOD — The City of Kingwood has settled a lawsuit filed by a couple who said the city flooded their basement with raw sewage.
Charles and Debbie Keefer filed suit in 2017. An order entered into the court file late in January said the case was resolved in mediation. No details of the settlement were provided.
“We are in the process of tying up loose ends, and we will submit a dismissal order in the near future,” the Keefer’s attorney, Sam Hess of McNeer, Highland, McMunn & Varner, L.C., wrote to Judge Steve Shaffer.
Attorney Tammy DeFazio, of MacCorkle Lavender PLLC, who is representing the city’s insurance firm, said Friday she had no comment at this time. Mayor Jean Guillot referred inquiries to DeFazio.
The Keefers’ own a house on Veterans Memorial Highway. According to the lawsuit, on or around March 31, 2017, the pump station failed because city workers “failed to pump the sewage while working on the pump station.”
After about a week away, the Keefers said they returned to find raw sewage in their basement. It had gone onto the walls and cabinets, “ruining the property and building materials with which it came in contact.”
In its reply to the suit, the city said it acted in good faith. If the Keefers sustained any damages, they were “caused by the negligence of persons or entities other than The City of Kingwood,” the city said.
The dismissal order will be provided prior to a pretrial hearing that was scheduled for Feb. 18, according to the letter from Hess that is in the court file.
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