IONIA COUNTY -- Three months after flooding at the B-93 Birthday Bash left hundreds of vehicles stranded in standing water, about 150 people have shown interest so far in joining a class-action lawsuit against the sponsoring Grand Rapids radio station's owner.
Ionia County Circuit Judge Suzanne Kreeger will hear arguments Oct. 27 whether to certify the class-action, Grand Rapids attorney John Tallman said.
About 1,400 vehicles were stranded in a grassy parking lot next to the Grand River at the Ionia County Fairgrounds when the Grand River flooded its banks June 20. Many sustained significant damage.
Tallman, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of a Plainfield Township man in July, estimated about 1,000 vehicles were damaged. While those with full-coverage insurance likely were reimbursed for totalled cars, many concert-goers had only basic coverage.
"This case is just about custom-made for a class-action suit," he said.
Tallman filed the lawsuit for Tony Hansknecht, whose 17-year-old stepdaughter drove a 1999 Grand Am to the B-93 Birthday Bash. He is seeking damages for the Grand Am, which was flooded above seat level, and for loss of its use.
Kreeger will consider the number and amount of damage claims and consider questions about liability in determining class-action status.
Tallman claims San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications Inc., the owner of WBCT Radio, 93.7 FM, knew or should have known the river would flood based, in part, on National Weather Service forecasts.
He also claimed Clear Channel had a duty to monitor weather advisories about possible flooding, warn concert-goers about the risk parking in a flood plain and to make sure parking areas were safe.
Clear Channel, in response to Tallman's claims, argued the flooding was an act of God and that organizers could not have forseen the flooding.
The company's attorneys also suggested others may be to blame.
Clear Channel has named Ionia, the Ionia Free Fair Association, Jackson-based Consumers Energy and the National Weather Service as potential other parties. Consumers operates a dam upstream of the fairgrounds.
It intends to file one or more notices of non-party fault, Clear Channel said.
Clear Channel relied on the Ionia Department of Public Safety and others for concert-goers; safety and did not own the parking lot, the company's representatives have said.
Concert-goers also agreed to assume all risks associated with the concert and, because of that, released claims against Clear Channel, the company's lawyers claim,