May 13, 2025
Flood victims can press forward with litigation against Michigan over the collapse of a hydroelectric dam, a claims court judge ruled Monday, finding that questions remain about the state’s role in the disaster.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge James R. Redford delivered the ruling denying the state’s motion for summary disposition from the bench, saying the flooding victims had presented enough evidence to proceed to trial.
Judge Redford said there was evidence in the record that arguably could show state regulators at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy were aware the Edenville Dam was at risk of failing, yet pushed to maintain lake levels on the reservoir impounded by the dam out of concern for freshwater mussels.
The Edenville Dam was owned and operated by now-bankrupt Boyce Hydro LLC, which lost its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license to produce electricity in 2018 after repeated safety and compliance violations.
The flooding victims’ briefings “clearly create factual questions as to whether or not EGLE knew that the Edenville Dam presented a safety risk through the [FERC] order revoking the license, as well as the Spicer Group report,” Judge Redford said. “And if they knew this, did their actions result in the denial of Boyce’s request for a winter drawdown in 2019 and the subsequent either actual commencement of litigation or communication that litigation would be commenced because of the drawdown impact the water that the level was retained at?”
The Spicer Group report is an engineering report that stated the dam did not meet state safety standards because it did not have adequate capacity to pass floodwater. The report classified the dam as a high hazard potential because of the communities downstream that would be affected if it failed.
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The plaintiffs are represented by Denenberg Tuffley PLLC, Johnson Law PLC, Dubin Law PLLC, Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers PC, Fieger Law, Sommers Schwartz PC, The Miller Law Firm PC, Buckfire Law Firm, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, McAlpine PC, Olsman MacKenzie Peacock & Wallace, Giroux Trial Attorneys PC, The Rasor Law Firm PLLC, Gruel Mills Nims & Pylman PLLC, Behm & Behm, Turfe Law PLLC, Cozen O’Connor, Stern Law PLLC and Fegan Scott LLC.
Read Michigan Denied Exit from Edenville Dam Collapse Litigation.