Milwaukee won’t appeal sewer backup judgement

The Milwaukee Common Council won’t appeal a jury’s finding that the city is liable for sewer backups in more than 100 homes in 2008.

The city will pay $935,722.56, which includes legal and trial fees, according to a June 2 letter attributed to Assistant City Attorney Jan Smokowicz and City Attorney Grant Langley.

A Milwaukee County Circuit Court jury in September ruled that the city failed to maintain flap gates and bypass pumps that residents claimed should have prevented the flooding, which led to as much as 4 feet of sewage flowing into homes.

The residents also had named the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Veolia Water Milwaukee LLC and Veolia’s Delaware-based parent firm in the lawsuit, which was filed in 2009. The MMSD and the Veolia firms settled with the residents in June 2013.