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damage from blasting

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C

charliebrown

Guest
I live in the state of TN about twenty miles outside Nashville.It's a town of about 80,000 people with a four lane main street through town. My house was built in 1973 and I bought it in 1975.At that time it was outside the "city limits" so there were no building codes.The builder did not waterproof the homes he built in anyway.No drains,no coating on the blocks,nothing.He just put them on fill dirt and stamped them done.Every home he built on my street has the same blueprints and the same problems.
About ten years ago the city,state,or someone somewhere decided we needed a by-pass around town.I didn't disagree,still don't,but thats when our woes started.Day after day they blasted and blasted and almost blew our little houses down. Soon after the blasting we started to see cracks in our outside walls and moldings pull apart inside.We were told since there were no building codes we couldn't go back on the builder and since the bypass was 1/4 mile away the blasting couldn't have caused our problems.It was all due to settlement.Some of us paid to have our houses repaired,some still live in them on somewhat shakey ground.I was one who paid a small sum of $5000.00 to have mine fixed,or so I thought.
NOW to my question,
This past summer the water dept. thought it would be nice to have another sewer line under our city,so they put it in up a pure rock creek bed 29 yards from my back door.Day after day for weeks they blasted and blasted and tried to blow my house down,and damn near did. I have cracks inside I never had, tile in the shower starting to pull away and crack, brick cracking in the center and chunks falling out and other things I won't mention,you get the picture I'm sure.
They did a pre-blast survey(took pictures) and said if I had any problems to contact them since I told them at that time my house had been repaired and really couldn't stand too much.Well,I did and did and did and nobody answered until I filed a claim with my insurance company.That got them here by-golly with their pictures and pads.He looked at my complaints and said what I thought he'd say,"that crack was already there,see"I haven't heard anything from them yet but I'll bet it's going to be "settlement" again.Do I have ANY claim at all? I figure they knew the cracks were there and had to be smart enough to know blowing hell out of my back yard,on layers of solid rock might cause damage.Maybe I figured wrong.
 


L

lawrat

Guest
I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

The problem here is deciding if the blasting caused it/aggravated existing damages/if blasting is sufficient action to constitute a breach of some duty by the city.

Problem here is that although 29 yards is close, some states don't recognize vibrations as a sufficient cause of damages.

Perhaps getting a free consultation with an attorney wise in property damage caused by city employees might help? Try attorneypages.com or call the tennessee state bar and see if they can guide you.
 
C

charliebrown

Guest
Thanks much

Thanks for the lead. One thing you mention--city employees,it was brought to my attention up front the water dept. here is NOT,I repeat,Not owned by the city.Leaves me with little hope there,they've got their bases covered.
One hope I may have in Tn. is the State Fire Marshalls office.I haven't checked it out yet.
Anyway,thanks again,you've given me a direction.
 

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