Fairfax Sued Over Sewage Spill Outside Mine Art Gallery Downtown

The owner of a commercial building on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in downtown Fairfax filed a lawsuit this week against the Town of Fairfax, claiming that the roots of trees planted by the city in front of the building caused its private sewer lateral to break in February, spilling 200 gallons of sewage onto the sidewalk and into the Mine art gallery located there.

The complaint (attached at right), filed by Russell Marne, a San Rafael-based attorney who lives in Sleepy Hollow, claims that the town is responsible for a Feb. 22 sewage spill "by failing to properly install, design, plan and maintain their public trees and root systems at or on their public sidewalks, and by allowing the root systems of such trees to penetrate plaintiff’s lateral line, causing raw sewage to back up and spill onto the public sidewalk and flow into the plaintiff’s property.”

John Clark, operations manager at the Ross Valley Sanitary District, confirmed the details of the spill, noting that it occurred in the private sewer lateral that connects to the district's sewer system, not within the system itself.

The lawsuit claims Marne is "entitled to compensation" from the town but does not specify an amount sought.

"We just want the Town of Fairfax to do what is right, i.e., pull out the tree, fix the sewer lateral, replace the sidewalk and curb, and if necessary, replace the tree with a tree that is not going to tear up the sidewalk and invade the sewer," Marne wrote in an email.

Town Manager Garrett Toy declined to comment on the lawsuit. He said he had no idea when the trees in front of Marne's property were planted. According to Marne, they were planted in 1979.

Marne said he tried to resolve the matter "informally with the town prior to litigation," but Toy "did not have the decency or common courtesy to get back to me."

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