Water Damage And Neighbors
Who is responsible for water damage?
This may vary again from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as to what their law is. In general regarding water moving from one property to another, we've had traditionally sort of a common law rule and a civil law rule, and they were opposite extremes as to whether somebody could or couldn't change the way water is flowing over their property. In California we have what's now called a modified civil law rule that basically is a reasonable standard. You can change to flow of water across your property as long as it's done in a reasonable fashion. But you need to find out in your state whether they follow the rule that you can or cannot change the way the water is flowing across your property and what liability you might be taking on by changing the course of the water flow.
What can be done about water damage created by a careless neighbor?
Again its going to depend on the law in you jurisdiction and exactly what the neighbor is done and what sort of damage it caused. If somebody has a stream across their property and they re-directed so that flows right into your back door you can expect that there is going to be liability on the neighbor who changed the flow the water. It's sort of general rule you just can't do unreasonable things like that. But it's going to depend on exactly what the law is in your state and what actions have been taken.
When I suffer water damage, what compensation am I entitled to?
That's going to depend on exactly what water damage you've been caused. If somebody has forced you to move out of you house, then your cost of moving in, moving out, and moving back is what you're entitled to. The cost of your lodging may be part of your damages in addition to the repair costs that you've suffered. If there's been other water damage, maybe not just to a structure, but to vegetation or other things, then maybe the cost of replacing the landscaping, or regrading the properties may be part of the damages that you're going to be entitled to. Depending on what statutes exist in your state, there also may be some other rights. One of the big issues in any kind of litigation is whether one party might have to pay for the other's attorneys fees. The general rule in the United States is that each party pays their own attorneys fees. The exception to that is in the case of some statutes that give a right to recover attorneys fees, or if there's a contract that gives that right.
What is an "Act of God" with regard to water damage?
An Act of God with regard to water damage is a natural occurrence of such a large proportion that it was really uncontrollable and can't be contributed to the fault of any one person. Let's say that under normal conditions, when rain comes down there's no problem with the water flowing from your neighbor's house over to yours and the properties are able to handle it, the natural drainage takes care of the water. But, let's say you have one of these kinds of rainfall that comes every hundred years, that is such a torrential downpour that a flood occurs and the rainwater leaves it's normal water course and damages your property. That would most likely be considered an Act of God, the neighbor hasn't caused it in any way, even if they've built something on their property that has changed the water flow. That change, under normal circumstances, hasn't caused any problem, and only caused a problem this time because of this Act of God. The neighbour who had made the change to his property may well not be liable for the damage, even if they've changed the way the water normally flowed.
What steps should I take once I have been affected by water damage?
The first thing to do, unless there's an emergency and you need to do something to stop the water that's still flowing or something that's about to collapse, is to document what's happened. Take photos, make a videotape, take some notes so that you have a good record of exactly what the situation looked like before you started remedying the situation and cleaning it up.Obviously, if there's an emergency, you're going to deal with the emergency first, and then document matters later. You're going to want to try to go back next and determine what the source of the problem was. Again, you want to document this: photographs, videotape, notes, maybe even witnesses to accompany you as to what happened.If you're having trouble determining the source, you're going to want to hire an expert to help you. You make want to get a lawyer involved before or after hiring that expert, but sometimes it is a good idea to do it before. The lawyer may know somebody that he feels is competent and makes a good witness for you if you really think that there's going to be claim and that the damage is sufficient that it warrants doing that. So, you may need that expert to help you determine what the source of your problem is so that you can either end the problem, shut off that flow of water or whatever it is that's causing the problem or, at least, prevent it from happening again in the future. Once you've done those things and you've determined what your rights are, you want to contact the neighboring owner who may have caused the problem. You want to talk about, obviously, two things: making certain it doesn't happen again and compensating you for losses you have suffered on this particular occasion.
