city liable for not placing a sea wall, causing shifting/structural damage of house?

[inside]

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

Hello,
The back of my home faces a canal, and all neighbors across the canal have a sea wall in place to hold back the earth below the house but mine does not. Most of what looks like my backyard is part of the property, however a few feet of the land leading into the water belongs to the city. For the past few years, the land below my house has been shifting (I was hoping that it would settle and not get any worse) and causing cracks as well as other structural damage throughout the house (where the floor should be flat, the half of the house closest to canal is several inches lower than the opposite side facing the street) most likely due to the lack of retention that a sea wall could have offered. Recently, within the past 6 months, a new large crack has formed inside of my pool (indicating that its probably still shifting and getting worse as we speak).

I'm curious if the city might be liable for damages since they did not place a sea wall on my side of the canal, causing the damage, because that portion of the property belongs to them?

 

[quincy]

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

Hello,
The back of my home faces a canal, and all neighbors across the canal have a sea wall in place to hold back the earth below the house but mine does not. Most of what looks like my backyard is part of the property, however a few feet of the land leading into the water belongs to the city. For the past few years, the land below my house has been shifting (I was hoping that it would settle and not get any worse) and causing cracks as well as other structural damage throughout the house (where the floor should be flat, the half of the house closest to canal is several inches lower than the opposite side facing the street) most likely due to the lack of retention that a sea wall could have offered. Recently, within the past 6 months, a new large crack has formed inside of my pool (indicating that its probably still shifting and getting worse as we speak).

I'm curious if the city might be liable for damages since they did not place a sea wall on my side of the canal, causing the damage, because that portion of the property belongs to them?

Following is a link to a paper written by Jon Kusler, Esq., April 2016, on government liability and climate change. Although the paper does not address your specific problem of sea walls and private property and instead details some issues with wetland and flood plain management, the paper outlines nicely some "litigation theories" that you might be interested in reading.

In collaboration with the Association of State Wetland Managers, with funding support by The McKnight Foundation, here is a link to Kusler's "Government Liability and Climate Change: Selected Issues for Wetland and Floodplain Managers:" https://www.aswm.org/pdf_lib/government_liability_and_climate_cahnge_kusler_0416.pdf

You can read starting from page 9.

Then I suggest you sit down with an attorney in your area of Florida to discuss the problems you are having with erosion on the city-owned property that is leading to structural damage to the house on yours. Based strictly on what you have said here, it appears to me as if you could have a legal action against the city to consider.

Good luck.

 

[NC Aggie]

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

Hello,
The back of my home faces a canal, and all neighbors across the canal have a sea wall in place to hold back the earth below the house but mine does not. Most of what looks like my backyard is part of the property, however a few feet of the land leading into the water belongs to the city. For the past few years, the land below my house has been shifting (I was hoping that it would settle and not get any worse) and causing cracks as well as other structural damage throughout the house (where the floor should be flat, the half of the house closest to canal is several inches lower than the opposite side facing the street) most likely due to the lack of retention that a sea wall could have offered. Recently, within the past 6 months, a new large crack has formed inside of my pool (indicating that its probably still shifting and getting worse as we speak).

I'm curious if the city might be liable for damages since they did not place a sea wall on my side of the canal, causing the damage, because that portion of the property belongs to them?

Can you clarify a few items in your original post? First, is the canal within a right of way, easement or on a separate parcel of land? And if the canal runs through an easement, does your property line extend to the center of the canal? You indicated the purpose of the "sea wall" was to hold back the soils underneath your house, are you certain that was the intended purpose? How far is the canal from the rear face of the house? Also you say the soil under the house has shifted or migrated...are we talking vertical (settling) or lateral (erosion) shifting? Is there active erosion in your backyard and is your backyard vegetated?

Based on the limited information that's been provided, a couple of things jump out at me. #1 Retaining type walls installed along canals and other drainage channels are typically installed by municipalities to prevent erosion along the channel where steep slopes are present, but not necessarily to protect structures that are 20+ feet away. Meaning, it's up to the property owner to protect structures on their property. #2 What you have described sounds more like a settling issue than erosion issue which may or may not be related to the canal. That's why I asked how far away was the canal from your house? #3 Settling and sinkholes have been reported a lot more frequently in recent years in southeastern states and ESPECIALLY FLORIDA. And the cause is typically related to fluctuation in the water table and shifting/migration of subsoils as a result of the change in the water table and acidic groundwater.