Relief at last for Tinley Park, Illinois woman who kept getting runaround after raw sewage flood in house
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- Tinley Park homeowner Joy Gallivan went before village leaders Thursday for help with a watery mess — some four months after a contractor hired by the village caused sewage to rain down right inside her house.
Gallivan had been getting the runaround since September, with finger-pointing between the village, two contractors, and insurance companies. But just hours after CBS News Chicago listened to her, bingo — things magically changed.
Gallivan's husband knew something wasn't right back on Sept. 24, 2024.
"He came home, and it sounded like it was raining, and he went into the basement and saw it was raining there," Gallivan said.
But rain it was not. It was raw sewage water all over their home.
"Exactly like what you'd think it would smell like," Gallivan said. "It was terrible."
Gallivan knew that village-contracted crews had just been working on a street resurfacing project nearby. Within just a few hours, the sewage started flooding her house.
"It was filthy, it was dirty, and because it was coming through the walls, it was all the walls, all the floorboards, all the floors, blankets, rugs, couches, chairs — it ruined over half our home," Gallivan said. "The contractors had to take the wrought iron tub out and carry it out because it was completely submerged, and this rained into the basement extensively."
Everything touched by the raw sewage water had to be ripped out and replaced.
Gallivan started totaling up all the damage.
"We are up to at this point $98,860.93 that we have already paid out of pocket," she said.
This forced the Gallivans to take out a new mortgage on their already-paid-off home.
"I don't know what else to do," Gallivan said.
The Gallivans thought that since the damage was connected to a village project, they would at least have no problem getting reimbursed. It turned out they were wrong.
After four months of the village contractors denying liability, and the village saying its hands were tied, Gallivan started speaking out at the Tinley Park Village Board meetings in January.
At a Jan. 25 meeting, Gallivan said 120 days after the sewage flood, she was "still waiting not only for reimbursement for the extensive damages, but for someone to take responsibility."
Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz replied in part: "The village cannot legally just say, 'Hey, OK, they did something wrong. We'll cut you a check.'"
When that Jan. 25 meeting did not lead to a solution, Gallivan came back again on Tuesday of this week.
"Can't you hold people accountable?" she said. "If I hired someone to do work and they ruined someone's stuff, I would feel just a sense of obligation."
CBS News Chicago then started asking for answers from the contractors, Iroquois Paving Corporation and Davis Concrete, as well as the Village of Tinley Park.
Just after CBS News Chicago left the Gallivans' house after interviewing Gallivan, she got a call.
"I might cry once I process all this," Gallivan said after receiving the call.
The village called to report that representatives Iroquois Paving was on their way to deliver a check to Gallivan, finally to start the insurance payout process.
"They just really wanted to stick up for us in this situation, so they were really advocating for us, which is wonderful," Gallivan said.
As of Thursday evening, the Gallivan family already had a check in hand to cover a portion of the damage.
