The home of two longtime city of Aspen residents was significantly damaged after a city water main break flooded their house, an incident the city’s insurance carrier said was an accident in denying the residents’ insurance claim. 

On the night of Dec. 21, David and Nina Eisenstat received a call from the Aspen Fire Department notifying them that a broken city water main was flooding their home on Park Avenue in east Aspen. The flooding of their home lasted for hours, filling the lowest level of their house with about a foot of water, David told the Aspen City Council last Tuesday.

“I just can’t even begin to describe, not only the structural impact … and how many of our personal possessions, furniture, furnishings, business records, tax records, family mementos, all of that were just ruined and are unsalvageable,” he said. “There’s no other way to describe it, it’s a disaster site.”

Though David Eisenstat spoke at the council meeting, he declined an interview with Aspen Daily News late last week.

As the Eisenstats work to repair their home that was rendered uninhabitable, they are grappling with how to make up for the losses. A claims representative for the Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency — a member-owned self-insurance pool of over 285 Colorado municipalities — denied the Eisenstats’ claim, “since the cause of damage was not a result of any act or omission of the City of Aspen,” according to the CIRSA letter sent Jan. 6 and reviewed by the Aspen Daily News.

“It is our understanding that your property was damaged due to a water break,” the letter states. “Our investigation indicates that the water main break was sudden and accidental.”

CIRSA offers its members workers’ compensation and employers’ liability coverage and services, property and general liability, and more.

The city has up to $5,000 available under a Good Neighbor Assistance Program that the Eisenstats could use with cleanup and repairs for claims that are normally denied, according to the letter.

After working collaboratively with the city in the aftermath of the flooding, David said the denial from CIRSA came as a shock.

“We were told by staff that the city will stand behind us and make things right, and that’s really exactly what we’d expect, or I think you’d expect, from the town that’s been our only home for 25 years,” he said. “We received a letter from the city’s insurance company denying any responsibility for the loss. We didn’t hear from the city, we heard from the city’s insurance company, and honestly, we really don’t know where that leaves us.”

The Eisenstats first reached out to the city’s water department requesting it turn off the water main to stop the flooding. The department did not turn off the water, citing complications with doing so during the holiday season, David said.

After the water main was repaired, the Eisenstats reached out to the city’s human resources department to discuss next steps with the city. They were told they would have the city’s support moving forward, and to submit any invoices directly to city staff.

They were told the situation was being investigated, David said.

“I’d like to remain an optimist that the city will have my back, it’s just that we had a real setback today in receiving this letter and no indication that the city is still committed to still supporting us,” he said.

City council members expressed support for the Eisenstats and assured them they would look for ways to resolve the issue. Council is scheduled to discuss the insurance claim during an executive session after its Tuesday meeting.

City Attorney Jim True said the city evaluates insurance claims on a case-by-case basis. The city is treating the situation as a claim and potential litigation, he said.

The Eisenstats have been staying with friends as they work to repair their home. True said the city will discuss alternative solutions for the Eisenstats during the executive session.

“It’s my intention, and I project it’s the intention of all members of the council tonight, to make you whole and make sure we take appropriate measures to make you whole,” Councilman Ward Hauenstein told the Eisenstats.