6PM: City officials ask for lawsuit to be dismissed, call 2012 flood an 'act of God'

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SANTA CLARA — Calling it an "act of God," the city of Santa Clara has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from homeowners seeking compensation for damages caused by a 2012 dam failure.

In all, the flooding event on Sept. 11, 2012, damaged 61 homes and 16 businesses. While the city received funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rebuild the earthen dam at the Laub Retention Pond, homeowners did not receive any federal or local government assistance.

"In order to receive what they call public assistance to the individual homeowners, there has to be at least 100 homes damaged by the disaster," said Santa Clara Mayor Rick Rosenberg. "We only had 61 damaged."

The city reports that the rainstorm that filled the detention basis was a once-in-1,000-year event and that the nearly 100-year-old dam was not designed to withstand the unprecedented volume of water.

"It was beyond the design of the dam," Rosenberg said.

Attorneys for the city asked a 5th District Court Judge this week to remove the case, saying the city is protected by governmental immunity laws. Mayor Rosenberg agrees, saying the historic rainfall was something the city could not have prepared for.

"It was very large and very rare," Rosenberg said of the storm. "Typically those events are classified as an 'act of God.'"

The homeowners' attorneys argue that it wasn't the volume of water, but rather burrowing gophers that caused the dam to fail and that city officials knew about the ongoing problem. They cite a June, 2012, report from state dam inspectors

"At that time they informed Santa Clara that there were rodent burrows on the dam," Attorney Jeff Peatross said. "The rodent encroachment into the earth of the dam appeared to be a problem and they told them to remediate it."

Photo: KSL-TV

Peatross says the characterization that the dam was overtopped with water is false. Instead, he says evidence points to the center of the dam collapsing after water started flowing through rodent holes.

"It wasn't overwhelmed; the flood did not exceed its design capacity or how it should have performed," Peatross said. "It's most likely and probable that the dam broke because the city didn't maintain it."

While both sides wait for a ruling on the city's request for a summary judgement, the mayor reminds that the majority of the homeowners did not join the lawsuit and that the city allocated as many resources as it could to help clean up the flood damage.

"We feel for all the homeowners," Rosenberg said.

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