Utility company damaged property

[trirod]

What is the name of your state? OH

The county recently put in water lines on our street (we are currently on a well and have chosen not to tap into the water supply). To put the water line in across the front of our yard they dug up some flower beds that my wife had put in, including a lot of plants and several hundred daffodil bulbs (we have a lot of frontage). It will cost several hundred dollars plus a lot of labor to replace these.

They have seeded that area with grass but refused to replace the plants or bulbs or to give compensation. They tell me that because it is part of the right of way (within a certain number of feet of the road), they can do what they want and do not need to compensate me.

Is this right?

[justalayman]

Ya , pretty much.
Actually they could have told you to remove the plantings, even if they were not going to install the pipeline.