Broken Arrow residents describe household damage from sewer backup; attorney urges early city response to tort claim

Ryan Fulda, an attorney, and clients Matt and Jennifer Sellers described extensive property damage and personal disruption after a sewer backup at the Sellers’ Central Park Estates home roughly a year earlier.

Fulda said the Sellers incurred about $45,000 in repair costs and were displaced from their home for about six months. He said homeowners insurance covered roughly $12,500 through a rider but that the family paid the remainder out of pocket. Fulda told the council the Sellers filed tort claims against the city and that “by operation of law, here in the next month, if the city does not resolve those claims, then the next step for the Sellers will be to file suit.” He asked the city to contact counsel if it was interested in early resolution to avoid litigation and escalating attorney fees.

Matt Sellers and Jennifer Sellers described the personal and family impacts: they said the timing of the backup coincided with Jennifer’s pregnancy and created medical and emotional stress, disrupted Matt’s CPA exam study and professional opportunities, and caused their young daughter to struggle during the displacement. Jennifer said family support kept them housed but that returning to the home “two days before our son was born” compounded the difficulty of the newborn stage while they were still unpacking.

Fulda displayed photographs and a diagram of where sewage entered the house and described comparable valuations from other cases and settlements to explain how the Sellers valued their claim. He emphasized the family preferred early resolution but would not accept a number that did not make them whole. Council members did not take formal action on the matter during the public-comment period.