Michigan Dam’s Failure Can’t Be Blamed on State, Judge Says (1)

Michigan officials were let off the hook Thursday in lawsuits brought by thousands of property owners and other victims of a 2020 flood caused by a failing dam that alleged government misdeeds.

State Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford rejected the “inverse-condemnation” theory that, had it been accepted, would’ve required the state to pay the value of property “taken” by their actions prior to the the flood in Midland, Mich. caused by the nearly century-old, privately-owned Edenville Dam’s collapse and failure.

However, Redford expressed sympathy for the property owners, saying the adverse ruling “does not mean that what plaintiffs ...