Rockford has successfully defended itself against lawsuits brought by Mercyhealth and its insurance provider claiming that the city was responsible for flooding June 18, 2018, at Mercyhealth’s Javon Bea Hospital-Rockton Avenue campus.
Javon Bea Hospital and Federal Insurance Co. filed complaints in 2019 that claimed Rockford in 1962 failed to install adequate drainage for the hospital campus costing nearly $30 million in flooding damages. Fabiano ruled that Mercyhealth could not prove that the city had taken any actions that made flooding worse on its hospital campus.
“From the beginning, we believed the city acted responsibly and appropriately,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said in a news release. “This decision reinforces our strong confidence in the work of our public works team.”
An email was sent to Mercyhealth seeking comment.
Mercyhealth and Federal Insurance claimed that Rockford’s stormwater system was “undersized and overburdened, causing the flooding,” wrote Judge Lisa Fabiano in her opinion.
Rockford had installed a 48-inch stormwater drainage pipe, a pipe smaller than the 54-inch pipe that had been recommended decades ago, Fabiano wrote. Installing a smaller pipe may not have protected the property as much as a larger pipe, but Fabiano ruled there was no evidence city’s actions caused flooding on the hospital campus or made it worse.
In fact, Fabiano notes that the hospital expanded its campus over the years, building a number of additions including one in 1965 to the east of the main hospital building. The expansion maintained the same first floor elevation, but included a basement level 14-feet lower. That is the area that experienced severe flood damage when a window shattered in 2018 allowing stormwater to flow into the building.
“Even if the city could be liable on a theory that it did not prevent the hospital from expanding or failed to prevent development of the surrounding area, there is no evidence these additions caused the flooding or to what extent they added to the flooding,” Fabiano ruled.
Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on X @jeffkolkey.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford prevails in Javon Bea lawsuit over hospital flooding. Here’s how the judge ruled.
Reporting by Jeff Kolkey, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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