Overview
- Judge James Redford of the Michigan Court of Claims ruled Thursday that the state is not liable for the 2020 Edenville Dam failure.
- He found days of extreme rain and a so-called 100-year flood triggered the collapse rather than the state-approved level of Wixom Lake.
- The opinion cited experts who said lowering the lake before the storm was unlikely to stop the embankment from becoming unstable.
- Attorneys for thousands of residents said they will appeal after arguing state regulators ignored safety warnings and allowed higher lake levels.
- The privately owned dam had lost its federal power license in 2018, and a 2022 federal study called the failure foreseeable and preventable without assigning blame to a single party.