Hi all,
After a flooding event in our street last year, a bunch of us residents have all been out in temporary flats, and have suffered a great deal of stress as a result.
The flood has been caused by poor planning decisions leading to overload of culverted sections of river, and subsequent flooding of our street. There is also a sewer problem, which led to the floodwater being contaminated by sewage, and we think this may be connected to the recent ill advised development of 40 houses next to our street. So I have been gathering all the information about planning permissions, etc, and am just waiting on the results of a camera and topographical survey of the area being completed by the water authority.
We now want to take these bits of information to a legal firm of some kind to see if we have a case for compensation from either the council, water authority or developer. My problem is how to go about finding the best lawyer for looking at such a case?
We are in the Glasgow area in Scotland, so any advice or experience with good civil lawyers would be hugely appreciated.
Hasn't your insurance covered your losses?
There is an Environmental Law Association - you could check there.
Thanks Nipper,
Ive had a look and will drop them a mail to see if they can point me in the right direction.
The insurer will cover the lost items and repairs, but there is clear evidence that poor planning decisions and possibly some negligence from the builder have caused this issue. The insurer wont cover us for various costs associated to being uprooted, and also the fact that our houses are now on a flood register, with the associated increase in insurance premiums and impact on saleability and value. Act of god would be one of those things, but it being caused by someone not doing their job properly is a different matter.
Hi,
I take it you're looking to claim for monies over and above that provided by your insurer? On the basis that someone (i.e. the developer) has been negligent or has not followed good practice?
Firstly, have you checked whether your own insurance has any sort of provision for legal cover? You need to bear in mind that any sort of action will cost money, and by forming a legal 'group' you're certainly doing the best thing in terms of wielding a big stick at minimal individual cost.
Secondly, you say the flooding was due to poor planning decisions - has this been proven or quantified in any way? This will be the key to your case, and it is likely that you would need to have someone suitably qualified/experienced to be able to determine whether this was the case (an expert witness in effect). It may well be that the insurers paying out for the flood damage have appointed someone themselves in order to attempt to re-coup costs so would be worth trying to find out if you can.
As far as legal firms go, unfortunately similar jobs I've been involved in have only been in England so not sure if they would cover north of the border. Have a look on the Society of Construction Law website for some ideas though - most people are friendly enough so a bit if cold calling might get you pointed in the right direction.
As a former lawyer, this does not sound like a good claim.
Find any dogged litigation firm.
Thanks guys, I'll have a look there. And I'll also speak to my insurer about getting some legal assistance for us. Thanks again guys
al speaks sense. Be very careful who you engage - from what you've written, this doesn't sound like it would be light on fees. Make sure whoever you speak to is reputable, so will give you an honest appraisal. Your name doesn't want to be on the top of the firm's invoice for a lengthy civil action.
Is it just stress you've suffered? No financial loss? Good luck with that one. I shared an office with a woman from Hull who spent 18 months living in a caravan in her driveway due to arguments with loss adjusters, insurers and the council after significant flooding in 2007. She didn't get any "compensation".
Based on what you've said, I'd recommend Erin Brockovich, this sort of thing is right up her street.
The flood has been caused by poor planning decisions leading to overload of culverted sections of river, and subsequent flooding of our street.
I'm assuming it's all decisions which have been made [i]after[/i] you bought the house?
Not in Knightswood, are you? The overload of the culverts there is why they're building a CSO (and possibly holding reservoir) at the bottom of our road.
I'm not an expert (crawled through a bunch of CSOs, though), but I'd guess you'll find it very hard to prove that the planning was wrong, just that it did not anticipate the much more frequent heavy rain we're getting in recent years.
No mate, not in Knightswood.
Peterfile, its stuff that has been ongoing for years, before I bought the property apparently. Nothing came up on searches though that said there was any flood risk in the area, SEPA reporting seems to be a bit of a chocolate fireguard.
The main flooding thing has got worse since they built houses behind us, but the sewer thing is totally new, and looks like is associated to the development also.
Scottish Water have replied to our MP stating they have found an "issue" with a sewer overflow, so hopefully will get that report at a meeting we are having with them in Feb.
And yes, it has been stressful, but the main concern is how this affects insurance premiums going forward, and house prices in the street.
Right, just re-read your OP in light of your last post. It sounds in your OP like you wanted compensation for the stress you've suffered.
However, from your last post it sounds like you're actually trying to recover any financial loss you have/will have incurred - this is a better claim than for stress/buggeration IMO!
That said, it's still not straight forward, if you were able to establish that the actions of one person caused the flooding it would be easier (i.e. a developer diverted a watercourse through your property), but at the moment it seems that there's too many variables to make it this straight forward (not least the "God" aspect!).
A claim for uninsured damage caused as a result of the flooding (if you were able to identify the party at fault) would be easier than trying to claim for consequential loss arising from your house selling for a lower price than it might have but for the flooding.
I'd suggest you do as much leg work as you can to try and establish the cause of the flooding before you involve lawyers. From your posts it sounds like there could be multiple causes. Explore each. I know you're already doing this, but as soon as you involve a lawyer he'll be on an hourly rate potentially doing stuff you could have done yourself. Perhaps set up an initial discussion with a local litigation firm to ascertain the size of the task and what they might need. Email me and I'll give you a couple of local firms I know who have a good rep. They might not have the necessary expertise for this, but will be better placed to point you in the direction of someone who will.
I'm not a litigator, but this sounds to me like it wouldn't be straight forward, and that's a bad thing for whoever is paying the bill.
btw, i'm not trying to put you off litigation, it's just that most people's first questions when they instruct a litigator is "how much will this cost and how long will it take". Unfortunately, the response is rarely "not much and quite quickly"! 🙂
