A year after a collapsed pipe flooded their homes with raw sewage, 19 South Ozone Park residents say they are still waiting for compensation from the city for property destroyed by human waste. In July, they sued the city in Queens Supreme Court after failing to negotiate a settlement.

“Our clients have lived with this issue for a year with no offers from the City to pay for their lost property and the repairs needed to make some of the homes at least livable again,” Phemister said.

The families tried to negotiate an agreement with the city before filing their lawsuit, but the city said the families had to first provide photographs of the items destroyed by the sewage flood, said plaintiffs’ attorney Craig Phemister of the firm Napoli, Shkolnik, PLLC.