Hi everyone. I'll try to make a long story short. Here are the facts…
- We notified our local sewer authority that we were having a problem with our sewer line.
- They advised us to hire a plumber to try to unclog the line. A roto rooter was used to no avail, and he said that the pipe needed to be accessed outside to further address the problem.
- We hired a contractor to dig a hole to expose the pipe. Once the pipe was exposed, a hole was cut in it and a complete blockage was discovered, leading us to believe that the pipe collapsed.
- In order to find the cause of the blockage, we hired another company with high power equipment to clean the line and insert a camera into the pipe to find the source of the problem.
- The camera showed that the key used to run the main water valve on and off from the street level was through our sewer pipe, and that the key had caused our sewer pipe to collapse.
- At this point, we called the water authority. They sent a representative up to view the video tape. They acknowledged fault and sent a crew up the next day to repair the water pipe AND our sewer pipe.
Now that you have the back story, our problem is that we submitted our bills to the water authority to be reimbursed for the money we spent diagnosing the problem and we also asked them to fill in the hole that still remains at the top of our driveway. They won't pay for any of it, claiming the law of Prior Notification and that it protects government entities, which they are. We believe that the law is there to prevent fraudulent lawsuits against government entities, like someone walking around looking for a pothole to fall in to, but is their negligence in the placement of the key through our sewer line covered? The sewer line was obviously in place first, otherwise the key wouldn't have been through the top of it. The placement was negligent. Do we have a case?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
- We notified our local sewer authority that we were having a problem with our sewer line.
- They advised us to hire a plumber to try to unclog the line. A roto rooter was used to no avail, and he said that the pipe needed to be accessed outside to further address the problem.
- We hired a contractor to dig a hole to expose the pipe. Once the pipe was exposed, a hole was cut in it and a complete blockage was discovered, leading us to believe that the pipe collapsed.
- In order to find the cause of the blockage, we hired another company with high power equipment to clean the line and insert a camera into the pipe to find the source of the problem.
- The camera showed that the key used to run the main water valve on and off from the street level was through our sewer pipe, and that the key had caused our sewer pipe to collapse.
- At this point, we called the water authority. They sent a representative up to view the video tape. They acknowledged fault and sent a crew up the next day to repair the water pipe AND our sewer pipe.
Now that you have the back story, our problem is that we submitted our bills to the water authority to be reimbursed for the money we spent diagnosing the problem and we also asked them to fill in the hole that still remains at the top of our driveway. They won't pay for any of it, claiming the law of Prior Notification and that it protects government entities, which they are. We believe that the law is there to prevent fraudulent lawsuits against government entities, like someone walking around looking for a pothole to fall in to, but is their negligence in the placement of the key through our sewer line covered? The sewer line was obviously in place first, otherwise the key wouldn't have been through the top of it. The placement was negligent. Do we have a case?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
