What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
National Grid has been doing a lot of work all over my neighborhood to update the natural gas main lines. This includes tearing up long stretches of road, doing the work and repaving.
However, I came home in early December to find that they had also tore up my near-mint condition driveway to re-locate the shut-off valve from buried, to surface level with a metal cap now in the middle of my driveway.
Firstly, I was never notified this was happening, and they did not have my permission to do anything. I understand a public utility has to do what it has to do, but I'm upset I wasn't even told they were going to do anything over my property line.
Second, they not only tore up the driveway and did a shoddy job of repaving, they came back out with a liquid sealer for the cut lines they left exposed, and wound up dripping it in multiple places, making a bigger eyesore. They also left scars in other parts of the driveway from their digging machines, and a few areas on my grass got tore up as well. I also noticed quite a few cracks that were not there before.
My question is, can I sue them to make replace my driveway, to have it be as nice as it was before they touched it? The re-paving job was chunk asphalt simply hot pressed into place, and isn't even level with the rest of the driveway, and it looks awful.
I'm trying to see if I can get an appraiser to come look and determine if property value is affected, but they are not cheap.
I have the driveway resealed every-other year to keep it black and clean, and protected.
So far, I have prepared a claim form and received one estimate to repair just the patched area. But after seeing it all in daylight, I think I'm due for a new driveway, and I also want the valve cap moved to the street. The guy I spoke to who runs the paving company said that was an oversight and probably could have been done at the initial time of work.
Sorry for long first post, but I don't know what else to do...aside from trying to afford a lawyer to discuss this with, which I can't afford right now..
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
National Grid has been doing a lot of work all over my neighborhood to update the natural gas main lines. This includes tearing up long stretches of road, doing the work and repaving.
However, I came home in early December to find that they had also tore up my near-mint condition driveway to re-locate the shut-off valve from buried, to surface level with a metal cap now in the middle of my driveway.
Firstly, I was never notified this was happening, and they did not have my permission to do anything. I understand a public utility has to do what it has to do, but I'm upset I wasn't even told they were going to do anything over my property line.
Second, they not only tore up the driveway and did a shoddy job of repaving, they came back out with a liquid sealer for the cut lines they left exposed, and wound up dripping it in multiple places, making a bigger eyesore. They also left scars in other parts of the driveway from their digging machines, and a few areas on my grass got tore up as well. I also noticed quite a few cracks that were not there before.
My question is, can I sue them to make replace my driveway, to have it be as nice as it was before they touched it? The re-paving job was chunk asphalt simply hot pressed into place, and isn't even level with the rest of the driveway, and it looks awful.
I'm trying to see if I can get an appraiser to come look and determine if property value is affected, but they are not cheap.
I have the driveway resealed every-other year to keep it black and clean, and protected.
So far, I have prepared a claim form and received one estimate to repair just the patched area. But after seeing it all in daylight, I think I'm due for a new driveway, and I also want the valve cap moved to the street. The guy I spoke to who runs the paving company said that was an oversight and probably could have been done at the initial time of work.
Sorry for long first post, but I don't know what else to do...aside from trying to afford a lawyer to discuss this with, which I can't afford right now..
Thanks for any help or suggestions.