Sorry off topic.., but things have been crazy at my house lately. Anyone here ever take on their City Hall for property damage caused by their negligence?

Our home was built in the early 60's and has never had the problem we dealt with. We live in city limits and "not" in any flood zones. The city (despite numerous complaints from us and our neighbor) has failed to maintain the curb infront of our homes. For the last year (everytime we have heavy down-pours) the water jumps the curb at the corner of my property, rushes down my neighbors driveway and we end up with a river flowing between our homes.

Well the city has failed to deal with this problem and our basements flooded. We lost all of our carpeting and damage done to the fireplace too. My neighbor was swimming in her basement and lost over $2,000 in brand new carpeting.

Here's where it really gets bad. This flood was a few weeks ago. Two days ago we just had new flooring installed in the entire basement. Less than 5 hours after it was done BAM..., killer rain storm, water jumps the curb and our houses flood AGAIN! Thankfully we got smart and the floor we had installed was a high end luxury "floating vinyl". We are now able to simply pop the trim and roll the floor back like a carpet and clean up any water.

Now we find out that there is about $5-$6,000 worth of damage done to our foundation (not to mention the damage to my fireplace). My neighbors family has connections and yesterday the city mayor came to our homes personally to see the damage. We were told that the city will be out today to completey redo the curb (they have yet to show up). The mayor then gives us his personal cell phone number saying "if there's anything you folks ever need you can reach me directly". It IMO seemed like nothing more than him padding us to avoid a law suit against the city. We added it up and the damages (from our home and our neighbors) will run almost $30,000 (yikes). My neighbor is looking at over $20,000 as the damage runs the entire length of a wall (and to get to that wall requires the removal of the BRAND SPANKIN new just paved driveway and carport).

We got VERY good proof that the city is responsible too. My wife and I took great photos (30 photos) of the entire thing (as water was rushing between our homes). We got pics showing it flowing over my property (due to a crumbled curb), flowing down my neighbors drive.., ect. We even got me standing between the homes with water that was nearly a foot deep.

Ayone here ever go after their city for damages?



[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 08-12-2009).]

Squeak

I have a feeling your Sh*t Of luck. Having said that I would be in my lawyers office and having a discussion. I would also ask him if he is expert in these matters and if not get a recommendation for someone who knows his way around.

We know what that swiming pool in the cellar is like, every spring the sump pumps run like crazy to get rid of the water. Two years ago we had a nice talk with the Public Works Dept.The public works had not cleaned the debris from the storm drains. They said they would attend to it and did just that when we had heavy downpours.

So our problem was solved. Yours however is one of seeking damages and also fixing a problem.

I hope you get some postitive results. wishing you good luck in the meantime.

Jerry

[This message has been edited by Mainer (edited 08-12-2009).]

Not in my city City employees (not 3rd party contractors) do this work. Our visit from the city mayor IMO (who in a split second said YES the city needs to repair the curb) and how he acted showed he was trying to avoid a lawsuit.

I do notice that the "county" will hire jobs out to 3rd parties.., but city repairs to streets and curbs (and sewers) are done by city employees here.

We're speaking with attorneys next week too.



[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 08-12-2009).]

Some cities, towns, etc may require that the property owner maintain the sidewalks/curbs. I know property owner who had to pay out from a lawsuit due to a person tripping on the sidewalk and hurting themselves. It was a granite sidewalk and each slab was lifted and uneven. The City was held harmless since the property owner was held accountable for the repairs.

Also the property insurance may have to cover the damages.

[This message has been edited by mc (edited 08-12-2009).]

We checked all that already. My wife and I had a look at the city codes and the curbs fall under the responsibility of the water and sewer dept for the city. The mayor even confirmed this "in person at my home" yesterday and assured us the city will be rebuilding the curb.

We've already checked with the homeowners insurance.., and it's not covered. My neighbors insurance company gave her the same reason that we got from ours.

We know for sure it's the water jumping the curb. If it rains and it's not heavy (and water stays on the street) we have no problem. It's when the water jumps the curb and runs between our homes that the problems start.

LAWYER UP.

Take your situation to a good litigational law firm that specializes in this sort of thing.

Should not cost you a penny to present your case to the lawyer or an aide and they will decide if your case can be of merit and should take it on contingency basis.

The law takes time.

Be sure to include the amount of time in your claim (the lawyer will likely make as much or more than you will anyway) and let the lawdog do his thing.

Most of the time, these kind of lawsuits never make it past the deposition, where a settlement is negotiated.

Lawyer up and Do. It. Now.


--Mac

[This message has been edited by --Mac (edited 08-13-2009).]

That's what we're going to do. My wife and I.., and our neighbor are going to get a good attorney to represent us (together). The Mayor knows the city is at fault on this too (otherwise he wouldn't have personally come to our homes the other day). Not only that the city showed up (and about 10 minutes ago) finished rebuilding the curb. They built it back to the height it should be at. It will certainly hold back the water now..., but the damage is already done and we're still looking at thousands of dollars in foundation repairs.