Dover, NH Restaurants Sue City Over Sewage Backup

DOVER (CBS) - Two Dover, New Hampshire restaurants have filed a lawsuit against the city and several companies after sewage backed up into their establishments in August.

"The bathrooms on the lower levels were fountains of raw sewage coming out," said Brian Kelley, co-owner of Kelley's Row.

The restaurants say the backup, which lasted over two hours, was caused by negligence at a nearby construction project.

At both restaurants, walls, bathroom fixtures, and flooring had to be thrown out.

It's cost both establishments tens of thousands of dollars if not more.

"It's just too much, you can't recover," said Patrick Duffy, co-owner of Kelley's Row. "I think there was a lot of small mistakes, oversight may have been a little lax...but there was a mistake made, somebody caused this."

Kelley's Row has decided to shut down because it's lost too much money between the cleanup and being closed for so long.

Blue Latitudes, which carried more insurance, will try to reopen soon.

"People are out of work because of this," said Jeff Roemer, owner of Blue Latitudes.

Michael Joyal, city manager of Dover, says he's not sure what liability the city has because it was a private contractor.

Calls from WBZ-TV to the general contractor and other companies named in the lawsuit have not been returned.

The restaurants blame a piping mistake during heavy rainfall for the incident.

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