Am I liable?

[Sanchielle]

What is the name of your state?Maryland
I sold a house to a family "as is." Two days before the settlement, they had an inspection of the house. Among several "defects" claimed to be found by the inspector, he said the sump pump was defective. In the several months before the sale, the newly installed brand new sump pump worked fine and the inspector saw no evidence of flooding, but he still claimed that it was defective. Apparently, their inspector unplugged the sump pump in order to inspect it, but did not plug it back in. It rained the next day. A day later, immediately after the settlement, I went to the house to remove my lock box from the sold house. When I got downstairs, the entire basement was flooded. When I look at the sump pump, the panel was off and it was unplugged. An hour later, the new owners called me to say the basement was flooded. Because of the inspector's claim of the defective sump pump, I agreed to put $300.00 in escrow until the matter was resolved. What should I do? The homeowner have already lied to me by saying that the sump pump was plugged and that they only shook the plug a bit and it has now started working again. Who is liable for this?

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by Sanchielle

What is the name of your state?Maryland
I sold a house to a family "as is." Two days before the settlement, they had an inspection of the house. Among several "defects" claimed to be found by the inspector, he said the sump pump was defective. In the several months before the sale, the newly installed brand new sump pump worked fine and the inspector saw no evidence of flooding, but he still claimed that it was defective. Apparently, their inspector unplugged the sump pump in order to inspect it, but did not plug it back in. It rained the next day. A day later, immediately after the settlement, I went to the house to remove my lock box from the sold house. When I got downstairs, the entire basement was flooded. When I look at the sump pump, the panel was off and it was unplugged. An hour later, the new owners called me to say the basement was flooded. Because of the inspector's claim of the defective sump pump, I agreed to put $300.00 in escrow until the matter was resolved. What should I do? The homeowner have already lied to me by saying that the sump pump was plugged and that they only shook the plug a bit and it has now started working again. Who is liable for this?

Q: Who is liable for this?

A: Whoever unplugged the sump pump.

[HomeGuru]

Sue the home inspector and pray that he has E&O insurance.

[45Frank]

As far as home inspections go! I was a G/C / mechanical contractor for 11 years self employed and out of all the people I ever met these were the most inept people I ever worked with.
Had to meet one in a house once because he insisted the heat didn't work, the third time I met him there he went to the stat turned the heat up went to the register and said I told you it didn't work. I had to get him the directions to the heating system and explain the unit needed a few minutes to heat up. What a butt head. He thought the heat should be instant. After all that he wouldn't believe me he put in his report to get a second opinion on the heating system. I made good money off them though.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by 45Frank

As far as home inspections go! I was a G/C / mechanical contractor for 11 years self employed and out of all the people I ever met these were the most inept people I ever worked with.
Had to meet one in a house once because he insisted the heat didn't work, the third time I met him there he went to the stat turned the heat up went to the register and said I told you it didn't work. I had to get him the directions to the heating system and explain the unit needed a few minutes to heat up. What a butt head. He thought the heat should be instant. After all that he wouldn't believe me he put in his report to get a second opinion on the heating system. I made good money off them though.

**A: not all are buttheads.

[45Frank]

Ok sorry for throughing words. How about very inexperienced.

Originally Posted by HomeGuru

**A: not all are buttheads.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by 45Frank

Ok sorry for throughing words. How about very inexperienced.

**A: again, not all.

[BSharp]

Sanchielle

The truth may be more difficult. I had designed electro-mechanical systems years ago. Your description best describes the following:

Nearly all failures, eg 98% to 99%, are HARD failures. In this context, 1) people error eg inept inspector or 2) hardware error eg quits working.

This leaves the rare about 1% of failures as INTERMITTENT. Nightmarish. Your post described "shaking the cord". This is an intermittant poor electrical contact.

The latter case does happen and all parties would be honest and truthful. Liability is the pump manufacturer or installer. More difficult to prosecute.

Only a highly skilled, Engineer (University Grad) could determine what actually happened. It's doubtful an inspector or contractor could solves this, UNLESS you are lucky and the problem is obvious eg hard failure.

As one who designed the stuff, your best bet is an Engineer .. Electrical. Call up a local University professor, with design experience, to help. A good one could determine liability if still possible. And certify stamp the findings as legal.

Otherwise, it's a guessing game, legal positioning: liability is manufacturer, inspector, prior owner or future buyer. If I lived in Maryland, I'd do it for a fee. Good luck. I assume you are a REA.