wrote in message
WHY in the world did it
leak? I mean it was gushing water everywhere! I can't ask my wife to
always check the disposal before running a load just to make sure its
not stopped up. What should I do?

Uh, checking that the sink drains is the proper thing to do. Does your wife
has some sort of problem that will not allow her to perform a simple
function? I've had a DW for 40 years in different houses and SOP is to run
the disposal before running the DW. The DW was designed to wash dishes and
drain the water to a free and open system. It is not a fish tank or
submarine.