Michael Clover never did catch the holiday spirit this year.

It’s been 11 weeks since water used in putting out the Boardwalk Apartments fire flooded his duplex with raw sewage.

His insurance company has ruled the damages were not “fire related” and, consequently, are not covered.

“I don’t see how any of this is right or fair,” Clover said last week. “I’m the little guy in this. I’ve done nothing wrong; my family has done nothing wrong and yet we’re the ones who are getting stuck with all the problems.”

Clover, a 29-year-old truck driver, has filed a complaint with Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger’s office. “I’m learning that everything takes longer than you think it will,” he said.

“I remember the day after the fire, American Family Insurance agents were at the Boardwalk Apartments writing checks,” he said. “My insurance company? They took a month to deny my claim.”

Clover’s duplex, next door and downhill from the Boardwalk Apartments, was insured through ZC Sterling, a Georgia-based company. The policy was part of his mortgage.

Clover said his appeal is slowly working its way through Praeger’s office.

“At first they told me ZC Sterling could do what they did and that if I wanted to fight it, I could take them to court,” he said. “They’re taking another look at it now.”

At issue, he said, is the definition of sewer backup.

“It turns out there isn’t a legal definition, so the state says if something comes up out of the sewer, it’s sewer backup,” Clover said. “The fact that it was directly caused by people putting out a fire next door doesn’t matter. Somehow that’s not fire-related, it’s sewer backup.

“I had soot on my countertops, but it wasn’t fire-related,” he said, doing little to hide his sarcasm.

Since the fire, Clover, his wife, Beth, and their children, Madison, 10, and Abigail, 4, have been living with Beth’s mother.

Shortly after the fire, Clover was told the repairs would cost about $30,000. Now, the estimate is closer to $60,000.

“The $30,000 was for my side of the duplex,” he said. “The $60,000 is for both sides.”

At first, Clover thought the damages were covered, so he had “everything two feet down – furnaces, hot-water heaters, carpets, linoleum, paneling, insulation – pulled out.”

If he hadn’t, he said, the damages would have been worse than they are. “But now I have a bill I can’t pay,” he added.

Though city officials have denied liability, they asked Clover for copies of the damage estimates.

“We’ve denied his claim because we weren’t negligent. We were putting out a fire,” said Lawrence City Manager Mike Wildgen.

“But we’ve asked for information,” he said. “We’re trying help (Clover). I’ve made inquiries to the Insurance Commissioner’s office. We’re not ignoring him.”

Since his plight became public, Clover said he’s heard he should accept the flooding as an “act of God,” no different than, say, damages caused by a tornado, and that he should count his blessings.

“I am fortunate,” he said. “I’m alive, and my family is alive – and I knew (victim) Yolanda Riddle. I talked to her on almost a daily basis because she parked her car in front of our place.

“She certainly had a fate worse than mine, and I don’t think for a minute that what I’m going through is more important or relevant than what happened to her and the others,” Clover said.

“But that apartment fire wasn’t an act of God,” he said. “If it was, then everything is an act of God and nothing is insured.”