Residents sue Baltimore City after denied assistance when sinkhole caused home to be condemned
BALTIMORE - Homeowners in a Baltimore neighborhood are pleading for Baltimore City leaders to step in and help after their homes were condemned because of a sinkhole on North Avenue.
Quentin Bell and Monique Bess are two of the homeowners suing Baltimore City.
According to the lawsuit, homeowners claim Baltimore City "negligently failed to inspect and maintain the stormwater facilities running underground along East North Avenue in the City in front of the plaintiffs' properties."
Three counts are listed on the lawsuit. And the homeowners are demanding judgment against the city "...in an amount greater than Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00) for each with interests and costs..."
Back in July, city officials said the cause of the massive sinkhole was a 115-year-old storm drain that collapsed on North Avenue between Greenmount Avenue and Homewood Avenue.
When Bell's insurance company said they were "unable to provide coverage" for his loss, he turned to Baltimore City, but the city denied his claim too.
As a response, the City denied the assistance claim because "there was no notice to the City of Baltimore of any issues prior to the date of the incident."
The notice also said, "Please note that the law in Maryland has long established that before a local government is required to pay a citizen for a loss, the claimant must first show that the City had notice of the defect which caused the loss and a reasonable opportunity to correct the defect. Therefore, your clients' claims are respectfully denied."
Thiru Vignarajah, who's advocating for the residents, called the city's reasoning "ridiculous"
"Just use your common sense for a minute," Vignarajah said. "Of course, you're on notice for 115-year-old pipe that you are responsible for maintaining. The Department of Public Works is responsible for the public works in our city. That is where our taxpayer dollars go."
Vignarajah is not part of the legal team that's filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of the residents.
A spokesperson in the mayor's office said, "As this matter is now in litigation, we will not be commenting to media, but will rather do so in the appropriate setting."
Bell said he's ready to drop the lawsuit if the city just pays him for the home he's lost.
"I just asked you just to do the right thing," Bell said. "Because I got to the point now I've already lost everything, starting to lose my mind, starting to lose faith, and I leave it in God's hands."
On Monday, five months after the sinkhole, Baltimore City reopened the street.
The sinkhole initially developed in front of two houses on the busy street. It slowly grew until it took some homes down with it.
The city has had to make "extensive repairs" to underground utilities in the area, according to the office of Mayor Brandon Scott.
The construction of a new concrete storm drain was even warranted, staff said.
Several homes in the neighborhood were condemned and knocked to rubble, leaving some homeowners without a home, while still paying the mortgage for a home that is no longer there.
"That trust they put in the people in the city was broken," Vignarajah said. "They applied for assistance from the city and the city denied those claims, and gave one reason, that they were not unnoticed off a 115-year-old storm drain that was on the brink of collapse.
"Because the residents had not notified them of this defect in the infrastructure beneath the ground, under the law, they were going to deny the claim."
Bell sent a message to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, saying that he needs to step in and assist this community.
"Brandon Scott, I'm just at a loss for words. If the shoe was on the other foot and I was the mayor, I would make sure the citizens going through this are going to be OK," Bell said. "You can go out and take pictures and post to Facebook for the City, but when the citizens are in need, especially right now with the holidays coming, I don't have enough money to buy my kids Christmas gifts because I am still paying the mortgage on a property that's not there, and I am paying rent at other places."
Vigarajah went as far as to say that if there was a sinkhole in a more prominent area of Baltimore, the City would come through and help those homeowners.
"Here off the corner of North Avenue and Greenmount, there is a different story," Vignarajah said. "They got a single-page letter, in a single sentence that said, your claim is denied because you didn't tell us about a problem that has been around for 115 years beneath the ground of our city."
Advocates and homeowners believe the residents affected by the sinkhole shouldn't be punished because of infrastructure Baltimore City should have been aware of.
"Does our mayor, city council, and Department of Public Works not know that the water and the storm systems in the city are corroded, that there are leaks springing up all across the city? Are they really not aware?" Vignarajah said. "That is a long-standing, decade-old problem that people have begged for investment in."
Bell said Mayor Scott needs to start caring about the community.
"If you don't have a heart for me, or anybody else, that's crazy. I think you should reconsider being a mayor," Bell said. "For all the homeowners living in this area, or anyone driving up and down North Avenue, please be careful. There's no telling when the next sinkhole will erupt in this area."
