Sewage Backup

I own a condo in a 390-unit /4 level building. There was recently a sewage back up from someone or multiple people who flushed sanitary wipes down their toilet which flooded my bottom floor unit and my two neighbor's units on each side of me. Statefarm will not cover the damages because they say their policy does not cover sewage backups from a mainline that connects to multiple units and the HOA refused to pay or make a claim on their insurance policy because the damage is under the 50k deductible. Does anyone have any ideas of how I could get them to cover the cost of damage to my unit?

Yes I have the plumber's report and it says that was the cause of the backup. Really not good.

The plumber's report is helpful, but it may be tough to prove the owners (or their family/friends) of those specific units are responsible. Get a lawyer to see what your options are.

(I thought women everywhere knew you're not supposed to flush sanitary pads down the toilet - guess not).

You may end up paying for this, so you should consider sewer backup coverage. It's not part of a standard homeowner's insurance policy, but we recommended our homeowners get it because we have a lot of trees in the community, which caused a lot of sewer line disruption. I'd also ask the board to educate homeowners on what's ok to flush or not (basically, toilet paper, piss and poop!) Some plumbers also say those moistened wipes a lot of people use these days (including moi) aren't a good idea either, despite the ads saying they're septic safe, so I try to limit when I use them.

If the source of the blockage was in a pipe serving multiple units (ie. common elements) then the association should be responsible for clearing the blockage. The condo owners would then be responsible for dealing with damage to their units. Insurance deductible doesn't matter when assigning responsibility, it's strictly what the CC&Rs say about who owns what. Ir's a common misconception that issues originating in the common elements means the HOA pays for everything. Not so, it's who owns what according to the CC&Rs.

Who *pays* for what is a different matter.

Condo insurance is complicated, and the answer will likely depend on what kind of insurance the HOA is carrying: all-included or "bare bones". Shane, do you know?

But if the cost of clearing the blockage in the common elements is less than the insurance deductible, then the HOA probably did not put in a claim at all. However, 'm pretty sure that doesn't give the HOA the right to pass on that cost to the individual condo owners, instead the HOA has to pay out of pocket for their portion of the cleanup.

So I think the OP's insurer would be correct in saying they're not on the hook for repairs to common elements. They should potentially be responsible for cleanup and repairs to the OP's unit, depending on how the OP's policy is set up.

Usual disclaimer: I'm not an insurance pro or a lawyer. I have had experience with sewage backups in my community, and our association paid out of pocket for repairs to the common elements (we try to avoid multiple small claims that could result in higher premiums).