Backfill gone bad

[glened]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL
I was the general contractor on my house build in 2006. I hired a framer to shell the house. He hired his excavating guy(with my approval). During the backfill he (framer) had the excavator bring in "steel slag" (see [url=http://www.tfhrc.gov/hnr20/recycle/waste/ssa1.htm]Steel Slag - Material Description[/url]) as backfill for the garage and front of house under driveway. Steel slag...."is one reason why steel slag aggregates are not suitable for use in Portland cement concrete or as compacted fill beneath concrete slabs." my garage floor has now raised several inches and pushed my basement walls in severely. The excavating contractor states that it was my fault being the general contractor even though i was not consulted on the decision. I did not know of the problem until it reared itself recently. I have tickets showing the amount and kind of materials hauled into the site and where it was used. I also have a ticket of the framer contractor stating help with "backfill materials".

Questions are:
1. what is the statute of limitations so i know how soon i must do something.
2. Who is liable.
3. Do i sue first then fix or fix first (cost of approx. $30-40,000 overall damage to garage floor, concrete driveway, house brick, drywall, basement wall, etc which will be hard to come up with)
4. if i do sue i suppose it is out of small claims $ so i must hire a lawyer, is this something i can "add" to the total cost of the suit.
5. he is willing to "remove" materials but that is all and wants me to sign a letter absolving him(excavator) and framer of all future liability.
Thanks

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by glened

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL
I was the general contractor on my house build in 2006. I hired a framer to shell the house. He hired his excavating guy(with my approval). During the backfill he (framer) had the excavator bring in "steel slag" (see [url=http://www.tfhrc.gov/hnr20/recycle/waste/ssa1.htm]Steel Slag - Material Description[/url]) as backfill for the garage and front of house under driveway. Steel slag...."is one reason why steel slag aggregates are not suitable for use in Portland cement concrete or as compacted fill beneath concrete slabs." my garage floor has now raised several inches and pushed my basement walls in severely. The excavating contractor states that it was my fault being the general contractor even though i was not consulted on the decision. I did not know of the problem until it reared itself recently. I have tickets showing the amount and kind of materials hauled into the site and where it was used. I also have a ticket of the framer contractor stating help with "backfill materials".

Questions are:
1. what is the statute of limitations so i know how soon i must do something.
2. Who is liable.
3. Do i sue first then fix or fix first (cost of approx. $30-40,000 overall damage to garage floor, concrete driveway, house brick, drywall, basement wall, etc which will be hard to come up with)
4. if i do sue i suppose it is out of small claims $ so i must hire a lawyer, is this something i can "add" to the total cost of the suit.
5. he is willing to "remove" materials but that is all and wants me to sign a letter absolving him(excavator) and framer of all future liability.
Thanks

**A: so where is your attorney?

[Stevef]

Originally Posted by glened

1. what is the statute of limitations so i know how soon i must do something.

It looks like the statute of limitations for property damage by negligence is five years. You may also have a claim for breach of express and/or implied contract. SOL for written contracts appears to be ten years.

2. Who is liable.

That's what a jury will decide. It will likely be divided between the general contractor, the framer, and the excavator.
If they split it three ways, framer and excavator would be liable for 67%. That's a big IF.

Note: If you are found 51% liable, you collect nothing.

3. Do i sue first then fix or fix first (cost of approx. $30-40,000 overall damage to garage floor, concrete driveway, house brick, drywall, basement wall, etc which will be hard to come up with)

You only get one bite at the apple. If you sue for $30K, and it ends up costing you $100K, you can't go back for more. You also have to prove your damages (more likely than not)

4. if i do sue i suppose it is out of small claims $ so i must hire a lawyer, is this something i can "add" to the total cost of the suit.

You can ask for attorney fees, You may not get them.

5. he is willing to "remove" materials but that is all and wants me to sign a letter absolving him(excavator) and framer of all future liability.

If you sue (and win) for $30K, but they decide you are 1/3 liable, you only get $20K. The lawyer will probably take 1/3 of that, leaving you with $13K. How much is the removal worth?

You really need to see a lawyer about this. This is not a do-it-yourself project. Look at what happened the last time you took on a job that you didn't completely understand.

[glened]

That's what a jury will decide. It will likely be divided between the general contractor, the framer, and the excavator.
If they split it three ways, framer and excavator would be liable for 67%. That's a big IF.

i know we are in hypothetical land here but shed some light on why me the general contractor has 1/3 liability when i didn't hire the excavator (the framer did but i paid him)nor was i given any kind of options or even asked about the backfill materials. These decisions were made between the framer and excavator as stated on the framers ticket marked "additional labor charges for backfill materials". Notice labor charges the materials were billed through the excavators tickets.

You only get one bite at the apple. If you sue for $30K, and it ends up costing you $100K, you can't go back for more. You also have to prove your damages (more likely than not)

i get i cannot sue twice, what i was getting at was given that i get appropriate bids can i sue before fixing damage because in no way can i afford the 30-40,000 to fix the problem first. Damages are easy to prove when the wall is cracking and bowing in and the garage door wont shut because the floor is 3" higher than original and the brick has a 2" crack running up it, etc.

You can ask for attorney fees, You may not get them.

like a 50/50 or ?

Look at what happened the last time you took on a job that you didn't completely understand.

again i say i was never consulted on this decision it just happened. It went as far as being "topped off" with regular rock to conceal i suppose.

thanks in advance for the "speculation"!