Family of man who was washed away in collapse of Spencer Dam loses court appeal

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) — The family of a man who was washed away in the collapse of the Spencer Dam in 2019 lost its appeal with the Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday.

Kenny Angel’s family had sued the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, claiming the agency was negligent in regulating the earthen-and-concrete dam, which it had classified as having “significant hazard potential.”

On March 14, 2019, the dam failed after a deluge of floodwater and thick chunks of ice roared down the Niobrara River as part of a “bomb cyclone” flood.

Lived just below the dam

Angel’s home, which sat just below the dam, was washed away and his body was never found. The Straw Bale Saloon and a campground that his family operated at the dam’s spillway were also swept away.

An independent review of the dam collapse concluded there was nothing the owner of the dam, the Nebraska Public Power District, could have done to prevent the failure.

The report said, though, that NPPD had underestimated the potential threat of “life-threatening flooding” if the dam failed and that there was a “a notable lack of knowledge about ice-run-related” dam failures by safety officials.

Ice chunks up to 3 tons

Ice chunks estimated at 18 inches to 24 inches thick and weighing up to 3 tons each increased the destructive nature of the flooding, investigators concluded.

NPPD agreed last year to pay a $2.5 million settlement to the Angel family. NPPD workers from the hydropower station on the dam, fearing an imminent collapse, had driven to Angel’s house and shouted “get out now” before they fled.

The family’s lawsuit against the Nebraska DNR, which regulates dam safety, was dismissed by a district judge, leading to the appeal to the Supreme Court.

In a 19-page ruling, Supreme Court Justice William Cassel wrote that  the responsibility for the dam rested with its owner, NPPD. The court said the State Legislature, in a 2005 law called the “Safety of Dams and Reservoirs Act,” had provided immunity from lawsuits for the DNR.

“While we sympathize with the Angels for their losses, we conclude that the Act provided the Department with immunity for the claims asserted against it,” Cassel wrote.

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