Joe Montana, his wife Jennifer sue San Francisco

American former football quarterback, Joe Montana, his wife Jennifer, and dozens of other families are suing San Francisco.

They are claiming that city departments did little to keep “torrents of water and untreated sewage” from flooding their homes.

On August 24, dozens of families who lived, rented, or owned property in the Marina District filed a complaint in San Francisco County Superior Court.

The families claimed that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and Department of Public Works, as well as the contractors they engaged, willfully permitted dangerous conditions to develop in their area.

The complaint claims that the issue stems from San Francisco’s unique sewer system, which is the only one in coastal California that processes both wastewater and storm water in the same network of pipes.

Plaintiffs claimed that the city was aware that its ageing system was frequently overwhelmed by even minor winter storms.

“Over the past decade, the city has continued to repair and improve its system ‘upstream’ of the plaintiffs’ properties, having the direct effect of channelling even greater and greater amounts of water.

“It also handles sewage into the areas surrounding Plaintiffs’ properties at a time when no significant ‘downstream’ improvements have been performed,’’ the suit claims.

The situation became worse after winter storms during the last two years, the families say.

According to the lawsuit, 4.5 million gallons of untreated wastewater swamped residences in October 2021, and torrents of water and untreated sewage drenched their properties again in December 2022 and this January.

“Raw sewage and storm water permeate the soils, walls, and floors of the plaintiffs’ properties.”

“Thereby depositing highly contaminated and toxic faeces and other raw sewage matter in and around Plaintiffs’ homes,” the lawsuit goes on.

“The city has failed to take any corrective action to remove contaminants from the plaintiffs’ properties and surrounding soils.”

“In spite of knowing that plaintiffs, their families, their children, and other citizens are being exposed to these contaminants on a continuing basis.

This is not the first San Francisco property that has supposedly brought the Montanas problems.

Joe Montana was among those notified in 2016 that their Millennium Tower unit was sinking and tilting 16 inches.

Families in the Marina District are suing for carelessness, unsafe exposure to raw sewage and mildew, cleanup costs, home value loss, and other reasons.

They are asking for a jury trial. On January 24, 2024, a case management conference has been scheduled.

dpa/NAN