Blame Game Upsets Hinsdale Residents

HINSDALE, IL — Hinsdale residents whose homes were flooded in late June faced a tangle of bureaucracy in their efforts to get reimbursements for the damage.

Two days after the flooding, the village government informed the Illinois Tollway of the problem and blamed the agency's Interstate 294 expansion project.

The agency agreed the project was to blame, but turned to the general contractor, Chicago-based Walsh Construction, to provide compensation for residents. The agency said Walsh created an obstruction that impeded the flow of water, sending it to properties in northeast Hinsdale.

In turn, Walsh pointed the finger at one of its subcontractors, which denied responsibility.

Then residents had to deal with insurance adjusters for Walsh. At one point, a resident was told to go to her own insurer.

This week, Patch obtained hundreds of Illinois Tollway documents through a public records request. The correspondence documented the runaround that residents got. According to state records, more than 50 properties, including the local hospital, were affected.

Only now are residents starting to enter settlements with Walsh Construction, village officials say. That only started to happen in early October after residents told the Village Board at a meeting about their frustrations with the process. Also at the meeting, an Illinois Tollway official expressed her disappointment with the contractor.

According to the documents, the company has never admitted fault in the matter.

Probably the most notable example of a runaround occurred in a Sept. 1 email. An adjuster with Crawford Global Technical Services told a resident that "you will most likely need to submit a claim through your own insurance carrier."

The resident was not happy with the response, calling the flooding a direct result of the construction on I-294.

"There is no such thing as my own, personal insurance, as you've indicated," the resident said. "I check(ed) with my insurance, and we do not live within a floodplain and thus are not given the chance to have flood insurance. My carrier further states that this is not covered as it was not due to acts of nature, rather a fault of construction."

The village caught wind of this email exchange and let the Illinois Tollway know.

"This is problematic," Village Manager Kathleen Gargano told the agency in an email. "I stand by what I have communicated all along, our residents need to be made whole. This does not appear to be honoring that expectation."

Illinois Tollway official Lanyea Griffin forwarded Gargano's email to Walsh Construction, which hired Crawford.

In response, Terry Gill, a manager with Walsh, said Crawford had "no business" providing responses of any sort to residents. He said he would get a status on the flooding claims.

On Aug. 10, a resident informed Gargano that the neighborhood had been given a notice about their claims. They were told that all claims and reports had been sent to "relevant contractors working in the area and their insurance provider(s)."

"Determination of liability has not been made at this time," the notice said, adding that relevant contractor representatives would contact residents within two weeks.

The resident said it seemed clear the construction caused the flooding.

"If there are any internal issues about which subcontractor is responsible, that should not delay payments to Hinsdale residents," the person wrote Gargano.

A week earlier, a Walsh attorney informed residents that it had turned over claims to subcontractors working in the area. That included Addison-based Archon Construction. Walsh's statement upset residents, who wrote the village asking why they must deal with subcontractors.

Around the same time, Walsh's Gill said in a letter to the Illinois Tollway that his company was denying any fault.

"The flooding, which led to property damage, is currently under investigation, and Walsh reserves and preserves all rights and defenses available to Walsh, its subcontractors, agents and assigns," Gill wrote.

In mid-September, the Illinois Tollway informed the village that residents would get determinations on their claims by month's end. Around the same time, the Tollway's Griffin emailed Gill that she was getting "a better sense of why the residents are getting leery of the process."

On Sept. 29, an attorney for Archon informed Walsh that a third-party engineer determined that Archon was not to blame.

By month's end, the promise was not kept to residents. The village heard talk of a possible class action lawsuit. Several days later, residents showed up at a Village Board meeting.

Village President Tom Cauley said residents were told to go to Walsh Construction, then the subcontractor.

"Residents shouldn't have to go around to figure out who caused the problem," he said.

Griffin, who attended the meeting, pointed the finger at Walsh Construction. She said her agency understood the company would resolve the matter by month's end.

"There have been commitments made by Walsh before that have not been met," she said.

That meeting may have sped things up for residents. In recent weeks, village officials said residents are making progress in getting reimbursements from Walsh.

Walsh has not returned messages for comment.