Oncor wants to dig private property? (attorneys, house, neighborhood)

[jenn2350]

Oncor told my parents that the problem with power outages in their neighborhood (which is during storms only??) comes from the "primary" located on their property. They searched on the easement and found that what they need to fix is actually located under the house on the side by the kitchen?? There is no easement there so it is private property. They said they need to dig under the house near the plumbing for the kitchen to get to this "primary".

What rights do my parents have to make sure they are liable for something or should they just tell them no? The woman at Oncor that came to survey said they aren't exactly sure what they are looking for or what they will have to do. She even said that they wouldn't be liable for anything and people have tried to sue them before and have failed.

[escanlan]

Your parents need an Attorney and they need one quickly. Even though you can find no recorded easement means nothing when you are dealing with a large corporation. They will always find a way to create an easement, right to enter and dig or whatever they need. They will do this before you are even aware that it was done. Because the outages are affecting more than just your parent's place they will claim it is in the better good of everyone else, as well as your parents. They will then find out how fast the government powers will turn their backs to their situation and grant the large corporation their way. Also, unless they bored to lay the original line and screwed up by running it under your parents home they might try to claim the original home build violated some obscure easement rights as the power line was there first.

IMO I would have an Attorney ready and tell them NO and I would also tell them to re-route the existing line around the property after obtaining a proper easement. Of course the doodie will hit the fan most likely and the firestorm will start! Can they re-route a major line? Absolutely but that costs money and time which most likely they don't want to deal with!

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[loves2read]

eminent domain--they can hide behind that

escanlan is right--you need an attorney and one with clout--not some curbside firm for this because Oncor has big pockets--
it is not going to be cheap--

frankly it was probably a problem that the developer created because that was the time to assess where the electrical lines were going and make sure they were laid correctly...

I wonder how old your parents' house is and if it is in the city or outside city limits--what city

I would also call the city and talk to someone in the utility/planning/zoning dept--I would not trust that Oncor which did not realize this was misplaced for years has it right even now--
the city might not be that big a help to your parents but right now it would be free to get someone from there to come out and discuss the problem

they might consider the attorneys that were working to stop Chesapeake from putting pipelines through people's front yards in FTW--don't know the attorneys but newspaper story probably has names--

also might consider contacting Steve Blow--isn't he the guy with FTW paper who does all the underdog stories about people who get screwed by govt/business