Theft of water from commercial building - how do I compute damages

[Wayner]

You have your subcontractors admission that they wrongly gave usage permissions to others.


Pursue them or insist they make it worth you while...


I have no idea why you would stick with them at any rate.

Well it is the property management company who sub-contracted them and the owner of the shopping plaza (who owns most land) gets to decide on whether to use them or not. I have no saying unless I joined forces with the other building owners in the plaza to outvote and kick out this property management company but the other building owners care less and cannot be reached.

 

[Wayner]

Originally there were 2 tenants in the building. Then in early 2010 one of the tenants left and the unit was left empty. Then I suddenly see the surge in water usage over the baseline so I became suspicious over how one tenant could have consumed more than the baseline. The average monthly bill for water jumped up for at least 200 dollars more for close to a year.

Granted - there were no sub-meter that seperates on how much water is being consumed from the outside water facet vs the tenant's use from the inside. But the landscape guys will come by 4 times a month and so powerwash company will come by 2 times a month.

The reason why I am so upset is that - if I didn't catch them in the act and confronted them they would have continued to steal water for their own benefit while I pay for the charge. I can't fire them and at the same time I am paying a premium price for their services so it is a double whammy to me. Hence I want to take them to court since they have admitted their own crimes but the compensation they are offering for years of abuse is not even 200 dollars (the increase of one month). I have locked up the water facet and saw significant drop in water bill.