Neighbor's Landscaper caused flooding in my home, Dallas County

[PKaye]

My neighbor hired a landscaper to put in new bedding plants. They placed dirt and mulch against our house (zero lot line community) several inches above our foundation/slab line. The next week we had several inches of water in our master bath causing $26,000 in damage. We hired a plumber from our home owners warranty company to see if we had a water problem. He wrote in his report that it was caused by the neighbors landscaping change. Our homeowners insurance is out of state and is only willing to estimate the costs at $11,000. After our $7,000 deductible, we are left with very little to repair the damage. Can we sue the landscaping company directly? We like our neighbor and as soon as we notified him of the problem, his landscapers came out and fixed it. No more water came in after that. I am looking for the most efficient way to recover the costs of the damages. The owner of the landscaping company is hostile and refuses to admit blame. Our county building department advised me that it is a code violation to put dirt within 6 inches of the adjoining property slab line.

 

[army judge]

The problem with suing the landscaper is he'll likely claim he was doing what the owner wanted. The old master-servant defense.

The question to ask is, who owed you a duty?
What was the duty owed?
Who breached the duty, if a duty existed?
Plus, was the damage a result of landscaper negligence, or simply an act of God?

Small claims is limited to $10K in Texas.

Talk to a few lawyers, see what you can learn.