Fraser Sinkhole Case Settled For $12.5M

Fraser Sinkhole Case Settled For $12.5M

Introduction

On September 29, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner announced that the county reached a $12.5 million settlement with an insurer over a lawsuit involving a massive sinkhole in Fraser that displaced several families on Christmas Eve in 2016.

According to the lawsuit filed, a sinkhole measuring 50 feet wide, 260 feet long, and 65 feet deep, approximately the size of a football field, was formed at 15 Mile Road at Eberlein Drive due to a crack in the MIDDD sanitary sewer pipe that caused infiltration of sand into the pipe. Nobody was hurt in the incident, but twenty-three homes were evacuated, and three were condemned, including two that were later demolished. The collapse also appeared to have dump raw sewage into thousands of basements in the county through the broken pipe.

The disaster resulted in a $70 million repair, which included an emergency sewage bypass system and the installation of a new sewer pipe. In April 2019, the Macomb Interceptor Drain Drainage District board sued the insurance company of three contractors claiming human error in the construction of the drainage.

The commissioner stated that the county hired a forensic engineer who reported human error is to blame for the cause, and the incident occurred due to the May 2014 work that was being done on the interceptor near the border with Oakland County.

Illinois National Insurance Company, a member of AIG, will make the settlement payment. The settlement also allows the MIDDD to continue to invest in aging infrastructure.