Town's Insurer Refuses To Pay For Homes Flooded By Sewage
SAUGUS (CBS) - James Kelble of Saugus has been busy all month throwing away everything in his basement.
"I will probably need another dumpster. I have furniture, couches, clothes, books… I am angry, sad and disgusted," Kelble said.
His neighbor, Joe Ferraro has the same messy problem.
"This Persian rug from Iran cost me about $15,000. It's gone; it's all contaminated," Ferraro said.
WBZ-TV's Paul Burton reports
They're angry, and they have a right to be.
Many of their memories and belongings have to be thrown away after sewage backed up and flooded their homes and two others on Elizabeth Court last month.
To make matters worse, they just found out the town won't help pay for the clean-up.
"While this incident is certainly unfortunate and inconvenient our investigation shows that your damages were not caused through the fault of our insured," said the town's insurance carrier Zurich.
Ferraro says no one is taking responsibility for the damages and families are being to fend for themselves.
"Morally this is not right. They need to take responsibility for what happens," Ferraro said.
Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said because the defect was not reported prior to the incident, technically the town is not responsible.
"I saw the claim had been denied I immediately sent a cleaning crew to the homes of the people," Bisignani said.
Kelbe says he has about $40,000 damage to his home. "I am going to clean it up and I am going to move. I have had it with floods, with the town and with everything," Kelbe said.
