“For many years, the city has had actual and constructive knowledge that the sewage and storm drainage system in and around the [Marina Boulevard area] cannot sufficiently handle anticipated conditions and rain events,” said the claim, which The Standard first reported on in early August.
MILE MARKERS ON THE ROAD TO DETROIT: Joe Montana Sues San Francisco With Neighbors Over Sewage-Damaged Homes.
The residents are represented by prominent San Francisco attorneys, including Khaldoun Baghdadi, former head of the city’s Human Rights Commission. Baghdadi said residents filed the claims in June—which are often a precursor to a lawsuit—to put themselves “back where they were” financially before the flooding. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday.
“We don’t only trust the city to maintain the sewage infrastructure, but we pay it for doing so,” Baghdadi said. “When the city makes the decisions that cause raw sewage to flood homes, it is responsible for compensating residents.”
Thanks to rampant NIMBY-ism, so much of the Bay Area is built around postwar infrastructure that is rarely, or has never been upgraded.