City denies damage claim

[Emma2009]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? OK

A city sewer line runs under my basement. I was unaware of it because the city never recorded an easement. After street flooding, a sinkhole developed, my basement walls cracked and bulged,and now my house has significant structural damage. The city says it was caused by a neighbor's broken sewer pipe (also no easement) I believe it was caused by stormwater that traveled along cavities adjacent to the sewer line before it was lined a decade ago, (and with each rainstorm, more cracks develop in my house and the floors are buckling), but the city will not investigate this possibility. They denied my claim for damages and to move the sewer line (I cannot fill the cavity & repair the damage with pipe in place or it will crush the pipe). They say I should have known about the city pipe because of a manhole cover in the driveway. I think they have used and damaged my property with no legal right. Am I likely to prevail in court?

[FarmerJ]

You wrote > I was unaware of it because the city never recorded an easement. < then you later wrote > They say I should have known about the city pipe because of a manhole cover in the driveway. If it was not done before perhaps you should hire a title search company to verify for you that there was no recorded easement or anything that would be easily found in public records that are searched before someone buys a home. Then use the links above to locate a real estate atty to discuss what your best legal options are.

[Emma2009]

I had a title opinion when we bought the house in 1984 (the house was built in 1917), and in the opinion the attorney states there are no easements recorded in the land recods. And during the city's investigation, they also verified with the county land records that there are none. In the denial recommendation that the city attorney's office sent to the mayor, the city attorney notes that in my title opinion my attorney says that there was no survey in the abstract and so his opinion excludes anything that might be found there. The city attorney then claims that if we had had a survey done, it would have shown the manhole, so we would have been aware of it. I think that this is irrelevant because state law requires that easements be filed with the county land records, and that document, which has to be signed by both the city and the land owner, would indicate exactly where on the property the easement runs. During their investigation of the leak, the city brought in a crew to do a survey so that they could figure out exactly where it runs under the house....and it took them 5 days, although they expected it to take only 2 days. That tells me that even the city didn't know exactly where it ran.

I should clarify part of my original post. In 1994, the basement wall of a house one block over from me (with a city sewer pipe adjacent to the basement) collapsed after a heavy rainstorm because of stormwater flowing underground into cavities left after a private line was repaired and the dirt fill wasn't packed in enough. (The woman had just exited the basement--after taking cover there during a tornado warning--5 minutes before their basement flooded.) The house was condemned, ordered demolished by the city, and no one will be permitted to rebuild on that lot. If the city had filed the easements when the sewer was installed, in 1917, no houses would have been permitted to be built on this lot or that one. And if at any point they had filed an easement, all subsequent potential purchasers of the houses would have been put on notice and would not have purchased the houses--an easement for a sewer pipe would have been picked up in the title opinion and would have been a deal breaker--no mortgage company would make a loan on such a property.

After that house collapsed in 1994, the neighbors and I who had already been concerned about sinkholes, contacted the city stormwater department and met with the senior people in that department and asked for addiitional street drains in the intersection by my house. The intersection is at a low point, with streets (and as it turns out, stormwater and sanitary sewer lines) flowing into this low point, then connecting in front of my property into the larger city lines, with the sanitary line then running under my house. There are only two small storm drains on the low side of the intersection (it's a T--the side street dead ends--not a + ). Because of the repeated street flooding (there have been 3 or 4 "100-year" floods since 1984), we asked for a drain that spanned the street so that all the stormwater flowing downhill into this intersection could drain and not form a 'bathtub' lake. The city declined, but appeased us by lining the sewers with Insituform, which stopped leaks from sucking soil into the lines and creating sinkholes....in theory. However, what became apparent to me as I did my own investigation is that there are cracks in the intersection that follow the sewer lines, and when the water pools in intersection, it is draining not just into the tiny curb drains, but also through those cracks into the cavities created by leaks before the sewer pipes were lined in 1995. I have provided the city with photographs we took during the June storm showing just how large the lake was (lapped at my porch steps which are 25 feet from the street)...the 'lake' was at least 250 feet wide, and was getting stormwater from 3 directions...and then flowing above ground (and apparently below ground) in the 4th direction, which took it across my property and resulted in the enlargement of the sinkhole and cavity under my house. Within 2 months, the cracks started appearing. But the city only inspected the insides of the lined pipes, and found a break in the neighbor's line and assigned blame to them....even though my damage extends the other direction (toward the street) as well....which indicates to me a much larger problem.

I had asked the city to rent ground-penetrating radar equipment (or the equivalent) to identify the size of the cavities, and this could be used to verify my theory about the cavities under the cracks in the intersection as well. However, they did not do so. I will hire this done so I have the evidence when I file the lawsuit.

The city leaves me in a Catch 22 position: they denied my request to move the 10" city sanitary sewer line (for which they don't have an easement) as well as my request for damages to the house, and my structural engineer says in order to repair the house, it will have to be jacked up and dirt, sand and cement will have to be used to fill in the cavities to stabilize it. He said if that pipe wasn't abandoned and filled in with cement, when we filled in the hole, chances are it will collapse the old city sewer line. This would cause the sewage from at least 250 houses (from the three 8" the feeder lines that are connect to the city sewer line in my driveway) to flow under the house and through the neighborhood. When the spring rains come, I would not be surprised if the house collapses....every week I find new cracks on the interior walls, and the floors are buckling in the middle slightly, angling down in the direction of the sewer line. Its been like watching a slow motion earthquake destroy my house. I should note that when we bought the house in 1984, I had a structural engineering report which said the house was in remarkably good shape structurally, especially for its age. At that time, of course, neither the engineer nor I knew there was a city sewer line lurking 4 feet below the basement floor.

I had a real estate attorney review my claim documentation before I presented it to the city, and if I cannot convince the new attorney who has replaced the one who recommended denying my claim, I will contact the state Department of Environmental Quality, which has already fined the city for other sewage dumps into neighborhoods---if I filled in the cavities and it ended up crushing the city line they would be called in, so I will ask them to pro-actively assist me. And I will file a lawsuit.

I'm curious if the city has a leg to stand on by saying the manholes were sufficient to put me on notice, even though the city had not ever filed a legal document signed by the property owner granting them an easement. (If the manhole rule applies, can anyone just create a manhole cover and go claim whatever property they want an easement on? I think not, so the whole thing seems so ridiculous that I'd laugh if my house wasn't falling in around me. If anyone out there has encountered this and can point me toward how it's been handled in other areas, it will save me a lot of money in attorney fees to have him research it. The only thing I've found on the internet was a statement on the city of Berkeley's website under common sewer problems saying that if a city line is found to be under a home, the line should be relocated. I'm guessing most cities don't have the problem because they actually obtained easements in the first place and didn't allow houses to be built over them.

[HomeGuru]

Ok, good luck to you.

[stephdd]

Emma2009, what state are you in?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by stephdd

Emma2009, what state are you in?

**A: OK, got it? Ok then.

[stephdd]

noticed the OK just now! Thanks!

[HomeGuru]

Ok great. Talk to you later ok.