Leaking Water Main Break Damaged Commercial Property
After a business property was damaged due to soil saturation from a leaking water main, a jury trial resulted in a verdict for the property owners, attributing the damage to the leak and awarding them repair costs, despite the water district's claims of poor construction.
The Situation
Our clients' business property was badly damaged when water from an unknown source saturated the soil under our clients' buildings, causing the buildings to move, breaking the slab floors. Upon noticing the damage, our clients called us.
Through our investigation, we discovered that a 65 year old water main used by the local water district to supply water to a several commercial users flowed under our client's property and was leaking. Water from the leak was following an old road buried under our clients' property, saturating the soils and causing the soils to swell, breaking the slab floors on the buildings above.
The water district denied liability claiming that the damages were caused by poor construction of the buildings and were unrelated to the leaking water main. Our Clients called us.
The Result
Following a lengthy jury trial, the jury returned its verdict for our clients, finding that water from the leak had in fact flowed down the buried road, causing the damages complained of, and awarded our clients the cost to repair their buildings.