GRAND RAPIDS — Thousands of mid-Michigan residents are finally seeing their day in court more than five years after the failure of the Edenville and Sanford Dams.
The Michigan Court of Claims began hearing a case Monday in which residents argue the state fell short of its obligation to ensure the dam’s safety.
The 2020 failure of the Edenville and Sanford Dams displaced thousands of people in Midland and washed away dozens of homes and properties.
Now, residents like Lisa and Mike Callan argue that justice needs to be served.
“We lost just clean everything that we own — the house, the wife and kids were at home and got evacuated,” Mike Callan said. “We’ve been battling this for six years, waiting for some kind of justice.”
The Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy said they couldn’t comment on pending litigation.
The Attorney General’s office said that the state “was not responsible for the dam failure and the plaintiffs do not have evidence to support their allegations.”
Nathan Gamble, a defense attorney for the state, also pointed to the owner of the Edenville Dam, who a federal court ruled against in a separate 2023 case.
”The plaintiffs have to show that their private property was taken for a public use — that’s why it matters that EGLE, nor DNR, ever took over operational control of this private dam,” Gamble said.
Midland residents are arguing that the state allowed some safety concerns to go unfixed, further risking a failure — but the state argues that a high bar to prove their liability.
“We wish to emphasize this is not about whether this was a tragedy that happened,” Gamble said. “It did, but the evidence shows that the state of Michigan is not responsible for it. There was no taking here.”
Attorney Ven Johnson’s firm is representing more than 300 clients. He estimates that around 2,000 residents and businesses are taking action against the state of Michigan.
“They had their land decimated by, clearly, the mistakes that were made by the state of Michigan — and not paying attention to what they knew was not if, but when, the dam was going to breach,” Johnson said.
Johnson estimates that the trial will likely run for two to three weeks. The case is being heard in a bench trial, in which a judge decides which party bears responsibility.
If the state is found liable, there would be another trial in the future to determine the scale of potential damages. That could be months or years down the road.
“It’s about time that they get justice,” Johnson said. “And we’re glad we’re in court, actually in trial — it’s part of that process of getting the justice for them that they so richly deserve.”