The state Supreme Court heard the latest round of arguments connected to the Hideaway Hills neighborhood Wednesday. In 2020, a sinkhole rendered many of the newly purchased homes unlivable.
The Hideaway Hills neighborhood in Black Hawk, a suburb of Rapid City, was built on an old gypsum mine. That mine collapsed, and 13 homes in the brand-new neighborhood were eventually evacuated due to instability.
Previously, the courts have ruled against the Hideaway Hills homeowners, and this class-action suit is against the state of South Dakota for damages.
Now, in oral arguments before the Supreme Court, a group of homeowners represented by Matthew Hughes say the state failed to do its due diligence in the mines management. In turn, Hughes said the state is liable for homes that are now essentially unsellable.
"Unrebutted expert testimony says the cause of the subsidence and the collapse in Hideaway Hills is the states infusion of gypsum backfill in this property," Hughes said. That went unrebutted by any expert testimony by the other side, and they admitted in their summary judgement briefing below that, for the purposes of this judgement, that backfill is everywhere we claim that it is.”
Namely, the homeowners claim that critical backfill is located under every single impacted home in Hideaway Hills.
On the other side, the defense says the state does dispute the facts of that expert. Terra Larson represents the state.
“That is absolutely incorrect, as a matter of fact," Larson said. "The state definitely does, and their own expert specifically said – and it’s on record 5, page 204, which they say we incorrectly cited but we did not – they specifically said the underground mine would have collapsed with or without the state’s mining.”
The court is expected to return a decision in the coming weeks. Complete oral arguments can be heard online at sd.net.