Michigan said the ruling reaffirmed that evidence did not support state liability in the 2020 Edenville Dam disaster, according to a Court of Claims decision issued Thursday. The ruling followed a January trial in Grand Rapids over lawsuits brought by thousands of people who blamed decisions by Michigan’s environmental regulators for a collapse that destroyed more than 100 homes and left the popular Wixom Lake drained after flooding reached Midland.
In his 100-page opinion, Court of Claims Judge James Redford said the Edenville Dam failure reflected the combined effects of days of “relentless rain” and an “unprecedented 100-year flood.” He concluded those conditions, rather than the state-authorized level for Wixom Lake, were the events that triggered the calamity in the Midland area.
Redford acknowledged the plaintiffs’ harm, writing that the Edenville Dam failure involved “real and lasting damages.” He nonetheless ruled against the plaintiffs’ central theory that Michigan’s regulatory decisions contributed to the disaster’s cause, including the role of Wixom Lake’s water level before the failure.
The judge also relied on testimony and expert analysis indicating that lowering the lake level before the disaster was unlikely to have prevented the collapse. In addition, Redford pointed to an issue with the dam’s spillway capacity, saying state regulators had “received by default” a dam design that they later found to be inadequate after the federal hydropower license was yanked in 2018.
According to the court, the privately owned Edenville Dam on the Tittabawassee River produced hydroelectricity until the 2018 federal license revocation. A reservoir behind the dam is known as Wixom Lake, and officials said the dam was in the process of being turned over to area residents when the failure occurred, releasing a torrent that also overtopped the downstream Sanford Dam and flooded the city of Midland.
During the disaster, the lake rose more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) above its normal level and about 3 feet (0.9 meters) higher than the highest level recorded in 1929. The east side of the dam’s soil embankment was overwhelmed and became unstable, and since the failure the lake has been undergoing a slow restoration.
The ruling distinguished the case from what plaintiffs’ attorneys argued was a comparable state-caused catastrophe in Flint’s 2014-2015 water crisis, in which key decisions by the state were described as causing lead to leach from old pipes. Redford said the Edenville failure could not be likened to the Flint water crisis in the way the plaintiffs’ lawyers urged.
Federal regulators have also examined the Edenville and Sanford dam failures. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked experts to study what happened, and a 2022 report said the failure was “foreseeable and preventable,” while also stating that it could not be “attributed to any one individual, group or organization.”
Even with the ruling, broader legal and financial fallout has continued elsewhere. The former owner of the Edenville Dam, Boyce Hydro, filed for bankruptcy protection after the disaster, and a 2023 federal judge granted the state’s request for a $120 million judgment against Lee Mueller, who controlled Boyce Hydro, related to damage to fisheries and the ecosystem for mussels; Mueller also filed for bankruptcy protection.
At the courthouse steps Thursday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said, “The Edenville Dam failure was tragic, and while the evidence has always shown the state was not responsible, we have taken decisive action against those who were.” In the courtroom, a lawyer for plaintiffs, Ven Johnson, said in response to the ruling’s outlook that “It’s very disappointing. I know our clients are devastated,” adding, “That’s why God created appellate courts.”