DENHAM SPRINGS - Several tenants of an apartment complex in Livingston Parish have filed lawsuits after sewage overflowed into their units and sat there for days. The tenants claim the sewage was never cleaned and in at least one case it was painted over.

One tenant at The Palms of Juban Lakes had sewage overflow into her apartment and is still living there since she can't afford to move. The tenants living on the first floor were initially in discussions to have their moving expenses covered but negotiations fell through. Five of them are involved in lawsuits with the apartment complex and CST Multifamily Group.

Angel Weber is still living at The Palms of Juban Lakes. She moved in last January and in September had sewage overflow out of her toilets and onto her floors. The water soaked into her flooring, carpet and baseboards. Weber said her apartment was not properly cleaned and that she has developed a cough from the contaminants she's breathing in.

Dan Vallot contacted 2 On Your Side shortly after the sewage overflowed from his toilets, which happened several times before he cut the water. As a disabled veteran, his wife cleaned up the mess. Without a working toilet, he was instructed to use a toilet in an open unit several buildings away. Vallot got into his car and drove to the available bathroom many times a day.

"It was an uphill battle. Every day was a fight," he said.

He was offered to move into a unit that could not accommodate his needs and had a broken toilet.

"We couldn't live there anymore. I couldn't continue to go six buildings down to go to the bathroom," Vallot said.

Ten days into the overflow, 2 On Your Side witnessed sewage flowing from a hole in the ground over the sidewalks and onto the parking lot.

Renee Jenkins lived in the same building with her two children.

"I just cannot understand why this is not an emergency situation to them," Jenkins said.

She moved her family out and into a hotel where she stayed for a month.

"They've given me nothing, I had to start over from scratch," she said.

Lucas Schenk of Boyer, Hebert, and Angelle, LLC says his clients have been ignored.

"To see my clients being taken advantage of like this has been - it's not so much about the money anymore - it's about some sense of morality," he said.

The lawsuits allege that no cleaning of any kind has been conducted while tenants were forced to live in flooded and feces-filled apartments for weeks. In Vallot's case, he suffered multiple hernias from the extra movement and strenuous activity. Jenkins' suit claims rather than acknowledge that the water in her apartment was sewage, she was told it was coming from her air conditioning unit. Another suit says the stains on the baseboards were painted over.

The tenants are trying to recoup what they lost and find a way out of the situation they're stuck in.

The Palms at Juban Lakes spokesperson says they "Cannot comment on legal issues." In October, the apartment complex said it was the parish that was to blame for the sewer backup, however the parish said it had no part in the mess. An engineering firm found that the backup was caused by a clogged line and outlined a plan of action for upgrades to the pump station on the property at The Palms.