A Kalispell attorney is suing the Evergreen Water and Sewer District, and the developers and designers of a septic system that he says resulted in the drowning death of a 3-year-old boy in 2007.
Attorney Lee Henning spoke to reporters Thursday afternoon in his office, where he described Loic Rogers’ tragic death as one that could have been prevented had the septic system manufacturer installed an inexpensive guard called a “kid catcher,” over the top of septic tanks.
“For $10 worth of plastic, a whole bunch of children’s lives could be saved,” Henning said. “My intent is not just to protect the children of Flathead County, I want this to affect the entire septic industry throughout the nation.”
On Jan. 24, 2007, Loic Rogers was reported missing after his father, Marc Rogers, briefly left him in the car outside a friend’s home on Maple Drive in Evergreen to retrieve the boy’s sister. When Marc came out, Loic was gone. A two-day search ensued until Loic’s body was located in a septic tank just a few feet from the driveway.
The death was ruled accidental, after it was revealed that the lid of the septic tank had been damaged when a vehicle slid into it a few weeks earlier. The homeowner pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment and paid a fine.
On Wednesday, Kalispell accounting firm Stahlberg & Sutherland filed a suit seeking unspecified damages in Butte district court on behalf of the estate of Loic Rogers and his parents, Marc Rogers and Ariel James. Henning is the attorney for the suit, which charges negligence against the Evergreen Water and Sewer District for allowing the septic tank riser to be installed in an inappropriate location so close to the driveway, and for not “requiring either an unbreakable cover and riser and/or an underground kid catcher device be installed.”
The suit also charges developers JB Estates LLC, Robert Rinke, John Coziahr and Rinke’s Red Hawk Ranch with negligence for the placement and installation of the septic tank. Carver Engineering Inc. is included in the suit for writing the regulations and requirements of the Evergreen Sewer District.
Last year, Henning filed a separate suit in Flathead District Court against Mohl Concrete Products, Inc., which sold the septic tank, and against Washington-based W.M. Matzke Co., which built and distributed the septic cover without the “kid catcher” safety device.
Henning declined to directly address questions as to why he had filed the most recent suit in Butte, saying, “There are legal reasons why we made that decision,” but adding that the lawsuit is intended to have a broader scope than just making septic regulations safer in Evergreen.
As for why it has taken years to file the suits, Henning said it was difficult to locate the manufacturer of the septic lids, and Loic’s parents were not ready to undertake legal action so soon after the accident.
“The family needed some time to grieve and just come to terms with the loss of this sweet little boy,” he added.
Twenty years ago, septic tanks used heavy cement risers and lids, but the industry has recently moved to lighter lids that make service and installation easier, but can also be more easily damaged or moved. Even though the septic riser Loic fell into was earlier hit by a car, Henning said a kid catcher installed down in it may have saved his life. Describing the lawsuits, Henning compared the relatively low use of kid catchers in the septic industry to how few cars contained seatbelts during the middle of the 20th century. Only after a number of costly lawsuits did auto manufacturers begin instituting seatbelts as an industry standard.
“This industry needs to wake up like the auto industry did many years ago,” Henning said. “How many more children have to die?”
He believes this suit calling for kid catchers could accomplish the same thing.
“This is what happens in our system,” Henning added. “The only way to fix this thing, unfortunately, is through lawsuits.”