Geologic Hazard Created by Negligence by the City

[aayjaber]

I am not sure this post belongs here, I thought I could get some help from some engineers who have forensic experience in this field before I hire a lawyer. Otherwise ignore my post.

I have a situation where there is geologic hazard affecting my property due to the fact that the City failed to enforce the planning/building codes presented in the grading/planning/building plans of the owner of the adjacent property. Upon review of the grading plans of the adjacent property it became clear that if the codes were enforced and the plans were executed as stated there would have never been a geologic hazard affecting my property. For example the plans calls for the compaction of a fill area of 90%. It is apparent that there was no compaction at all and the debris is loose and falls on my property. The plan called for establishing a swale between my property and the neighbors to divert any debris/storm run off/mud/water away from my property, this was never built. The slope for the filled area was not to exceed 2:1 ration, this is hugely exceeded.

Any advise on what to do is greatly appreciated.

 

[DRC1]

Get a lawyer expeienced in residential construction. Laws and requiremwents vary by city and state as well as state laws. This is truely a legal question, not an engineering question.

 

[cvg]

you may also need an engineering expert witness to testify that these missing items are the root cause of your problems. You also need to be prepared to show some damages. A potential hazard is not considered to be damages, even though it may affect the value of your property.

 

[miningman]

Before you pay for either legal or engineering advice, my suggestion would be to carefully articulate exactly what your problem is.

This might seem a bit anal, but the gelogical conditions have existed for thousands of years. Whatever else the city is guilty of, in a court of law I doubt they could be held liable for geology. My reading of your post is that a contractor / homeowner did some work which threatens the integrity of your property.

Is the homeowner / contactor liable?? My guess is yes, but whether the city is liable would definitely need legal advice. My guess is the answer is probably not, but remember lawyers have a tendency to provide opinions that lead to increased work for themselves.

 

[fattdad]

What are you damages and how did you go about quantifying the cost?

f-d

¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

 

[oldestguy]

In the advice given above, the engineering expert should be one that deals with the subjects you see here, a geotechnical engineer. Not just any engineer. I'd prefer to hire an older geotechnical engineer, even though he (she) may be expensive and it would be much better to know that this engineer has had experience in court as an expert witness. In court attorneys can make an inexperienced guy look pretty dumb.

As was hinted above, you do not have a "geologic hazard". Drop that phrase from your complaint, since it is meaningless for what you are faced with. It might be termed "a site development problem".

Also, be aware that you may be over-reacting to something that may not take all that much to correct it and the costs associated with court, etc. may not be worth the expense. While it may cost you something to "fix" the situation with qualified persons on the job, by the time you encounter legal costs that might not be collectible,you may wish you went slowly with an expert geotechnical engineer advising you first. It is difficult to collect against an inspecting agency.

I'd settle down and go slowly.