cvandermerwe
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois
I live in a small town in IL. In September of 2008 we had a huge storm with the majority of the city's sewer backing up into people's houses. We carried sewer backup insurance and our company paid out. On Jan 24, 2009 while painting my new drywall in the basement, we noticed the floor drain was starting to back up. We called the city and they dispatched someone to the lift pump across the street. I scooped water until the tech could get the pump running, which promply made all the water go back to where it came from. After talking to him and the city hall, I was told that the pump is not turning on when it should and the pump backup failed. On Feb 26 I came home to a basement that had been flooded with sewage AGAIN. I went to city hall this morning and they confirmed the reason there are two trucks sitting at the lift pump is because it failed again last night. I do not want to turn it over to my insurance again because I truly believe that the fault lies with the city's administration of the pump. They said I could turn in receipts for my time and materials to clean up the mess. I insist they put a one way valve in my sewer line to prevent this from happening again. They told me that the city board has discussed these valves and they will not volunteer to pay to place them on private property. My questions then: Do I go ahead and pay for the valve and turn it in to their insurance? If their insurance doesn't pay, how good of a case do I have to recover my money by other means? My point is that they knew they had a problem a month ago, yet they failed to repair the pump. Everytime their pump quits I am left with my basement being flooded through the floor drain.
I live in a small town in IL. In September of 2008 we had a huge storm with the majority of the city's sewer backing up into people's houses. We carried sewer backup insurance and our company paid out. On Jan 24, 2009 while painting my new drywall in the basement, we noticed the floor drain was starting to back up. We called the city and they dispatched someone to the lift pump across the street. I scooped water until the tech could get the pump running, which promply made all the water go back to where it came from. After talking to him and the city hall, I was told that the pump is not turning on when it should and the pump backup failed. On Feb 26 I came home to a basement that had been flooded with sewage AGAIN. I went to city hall this morning and they confirmed the reason there are two trucks sitting at the lift pump is because it failed again last night. I do not want to turn it over to my insurance again because I truly believe that the fault lies with the city's administration of the pump. They said I could turn in receipts for my time and materials to clean up the mess. I insist they put a one way valve in my sewer line to prevent this from happening again. They told me that the city board has discussed these valves and they will not volunteer to pay to place them on private property. My questions then: Do I go ahead and pay for the valve and turn it in to their insurance? If their insurance doesn't pay, how good of a case do I have to recover my money by other means? My point is that they knew they had a problem a month ago, yet they failed to repair the pump. Everytime their pump quits I am left with my basement being flooded through the floor drain.