Foundation Problems Due to Main City Water Line (city hall, insurance)

[mistydaun]

Eeeegads!! I haave looked all over the net to see if there is anyone or any place that is having similar problem I'm having. About 5 months ago the city started tearing parts of the street up to repair their main water line that had been leaking. Suddenly they stopped working on it. Now they just started again last week only this time they took jackhammer & mad huge holes all over the street. They worked 4 hours & quit. There was nothing blocked off at all, no warnings or anything warning of driving to your house. I come home, & whamo...2 flat tires from running into on of the million deep holes with sharp & big stones. Now if this isn't bad enough there is now sewer gas everytime I use my kitchen sink. I spoke with one of the main men for the city & he told me that they were going to have to do some major work to the street & completely tear it all out due to the main city line leaking for a long time making the street raise up 8 inches.
We are in townhomes that are all connected to each other & all of them are having major foundation problems. My concern is that this leak for years has caused foundation problems for all of us & I believe that because of their jackhammering in front of my house, that this has caused my sewer line to break. Has anyone had any type of probs like this? I just don't know what to do. City points finger at company hired by city & the company points the finger at the city. I'm basicaly just screwed & not only that, there is no parking on the street or you will be towed!! We are all being screwed around without a jar of vaseline! Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[tycobb2522]

My thought is you're trying to blame the city for problems that have nothing to do with the work they're doing.

Your plumbing system has P-traps on the drain lines at every fixture. The purpose of these traps is to prevent sewer gas from entering your home; work on the water main at the street would have absolutely nothing to do with sewer gas coming up from your sink.

What evidence do you have that jackhammering on the water main in the street would have caused your private sewer lateral to break? I've been around construction all of my life, and have never known that to happen. Sewer mains are typically 6-8 feet or more below grade, and jackhammering the concrete/asphalt above would have no effect whatsoever on the lines.

Flat tires from rocks? Never seen it. Unless you were driving way to fast across potholes and the bead of the tires popped out of the wheel rims, I have a real problem believing that the flat was caused from the pothole.

Foundation problems from a water leak at the street? HIGHLY unlikely. How far is the building from the street? Which way does the grade slope from the row of townhouses to the street?

Lastly, I have to ask what you expect the city to do regarding parking on the street while they're doing work? Do you think they should just never do repairs/maintenance on the lines?

[loves2read]

the builder could have caused the problem building the townhomes...or the water leak could have cause foundation problems--
people know that overwatering, underwatering in their home yards can cause problems for their own foundations--why not a leak in a city water line...

in city street that ran behind our prior subdivision--water main broke--big water blowup on the street/curb/houses close by...
destroyed one guy's swimming pool
did the city pay for his repairs--NO--they claimed you can't sue the city for something unexpected like this--although the line was like 40 yrs old and was in bad shape--after that blowup they replaced the entire street's water line
did his home insurance pay--NO because it said that it was the city's responsibility and it was not covered under the normal coverage of his policy
he had to fill in the pool because he could not afford to basically tear it out and rebuilt it--had to pay to have his fence replaced--

most cities pull the "you can't sue city hall" card where their mistakes/negligence/lack of oversight cause problems for citizens...re--pot holes or or ther problems...

she needs to get a plumber out to her house to asses the problem...

[tycobb2522]

Sovereign immunity is not so much a card that is played; it is an ancient doctrine that provides some protection for governmental entities for certain torts. It has been recognized by courts across the country including the Texas Supreme Court. It provides limited protection from the evils of our litigious society, and without it, every greedy, selfish, lawsuit-happy idiot would sue the government every time they got drunk and ran over a curb. I am in support of any law/doctrine that keeps such people from blaming others for their own irresponsibility.

It typically does not apply in cases of extreme negligence or intentionnal misconduct.

l2r - what exactly happened to the pool?