Who Is Responsible??

[Chuysmom]

Okay, so bear with me - this is a lengthy question (of sorts). Ahem...

If you had a severe structural failure (so as to be WAYYY beyond cosmetic or easily fixable) in your home due to a green waste situation - where it was buried during the clearing process - instead of the developer paying to haul the green waste (yes, ALBEZIA kine) he instructs the contractor to bury it, who is responsible for your sinking slab and cracking, separating walls?

Is it the Developer of the subdivision? The Architect who is supposed to supervise all steps of the building phase? The Contractor that admits he knew there was buried green waste and built anyway? The Realtor that knew there was sinking on the property and is no longer a Realtor? The Japanese people that sold the home to you and moved to Japan?

WHO is responsible?

I have done much "digging" around and now we're at a point where the fingers are pointing in every direction...hmmm. Anyone have a real clue? Thanks.[]

Carrie Rojo

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com

"The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it." Galadriel - LOTR

[Liz]

Oh Carrie, my heart goes out to you. Your poor home! I couldn't believe the pictures you showed me; it's getting worse by the week!

Have you called your insurance company? I'm sure you thought of that already. And did they say they wouldn't cover it (very likely)?
The next step is to hire a lawyer. If any of these people knew about this mess, that's fraud. Your lawyer would likely go after whoever has the most insurance, and then when it goes to court it will be decided who has how much of the blame.
But what a drag to have to go through all this.

Does anyone have other suggestions? I'm not a lawyer, but this is how we've seen things handled.

aloha, Liz

"The best things in life aren't things."

[StillHope]

Carrie,that's terrible!
I'd talk to a lawyer.
Actually by trying to talk to people involved yourself,you will just
warn them to your disadvantage.

[Kapohocat]

Carrie has talked to a couple of attorneys. She hasn't found the young hungry one yet... She has done a lot of hard work in the research and a number of the parties involved have shown their hands already. The GC admitted to knowingly building over the green waste in writing.

She is doing the research an attorney would be paying a clerk to do. Carrie was previously a legal secretary and already has a good working knowledge of what needs to be done to prepare for the next steps.

[StillHope]

I see..
But if the GC already admitted his fault,then Carrie's question has already been answered?
Or not?

[JerryCarr]

What a terrible ordeal! I'm NOT an attorney, but there seems to be a lot of liability to go around. If the developer who buried the greenwaste knew that was the spot where the house would be built, there should be liability. It's possible that the architect did not know about the buried material when he was given the site to work with, so that's a question mark to me. The contractor is obviously liable if he knowingly built over albezia waste. The realtor, regardless of whether he/she is still practicing, could be liable for failure to disclose. The sellers could be held legally responsible for failure to disclose as well, although getting at them in Japan might be a mess.

A standard real estate contract should have a lengthy questionnaire that has disclosure of known faults. Was one of those provided to you Carrie? If it was, and this hideous fault was left off, the seller and realtor should both be sued. Unless there are other factors not mentioned above, it amazes me that you haven't found a lawyer willing to jump on this. I guess another question that comes to mind is why the previous owners didn't sue if they knew there was subsidence. I suppose they could have just decided to sell before things got really bad, but it sure seems strange that they did not seek redress. Instead, it sounds like they chose to pass the problem on to you. I hope you nail to the wall any and all of these people who might have knowingly cheated you.

One last thing: Doesn't the permitting and building inspection process have a site inspection where the foundation and support elements are checked? It might be instructive to pull those records. Even though you can safely assume that it passed, there might be something there that would help.

[DanielP]

My guess is that the smartest money spent will be on a solution before the problem gets worse.

Was there a relationship between the developer, G.C., realtor, prior to construction? Who pulled the building permit?

Dan

[Chuysmom]

Thanks Everyone for your reponses.

The insurance company was here...they will not cover it because the damage was caused by the situation beneath the slab. The adjuster was a nice guy - his jaw did drop a little and he shook his head a lot.

As Cat knows, the GC advised that he knew of the buried green waste, but he stated that "soil test was not required" and he built anyway. So any inspectors saw the slab as it was poured but could not know what was underneath.

The Architect says he did not have a contract with us.

The Engineer says he's only responsible for the septic system.

The Developer is a Japanese company only has an office in Honolulu now and they have not responded at this point. They pulled the permit, Daniel.

We are waiting to hear from the Realtor who did not renew her license last year. They (of course) completed the Disclosure Statement showing that to their knowledge all is well with the house and property.

The former owners knew of the land sinking since they had "caution" tape strung in an area of the yard. The cracks in the drywall did not start until last year and only then appeared to be fixable. That was before we knew what we were dealing with. This process is now moving much more quickly, and my Mom's room has giant cracks in the slab running the width of her room. SO - since the green waste is at a point where it is decomposing more quickly WE are seeing the results. THEY did not.

Of course we would like a lawyer. Unfortunately, they will not handle it on a contingency basis and we are not at a point where we can handle upwards of $200 an hour. So...at this point I have been doing my own discovery as Kapohocat said. It's tedious but revealing.

Sadly, the entire house is now being pulled toward the sinking corner and is pulling apart slowly. Since we cannot say what's underneath, the whole foundation is compromised.



Carrie Rojo

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com

"The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it." Galadriel - LOTR

[kani-lehua]

makes me so mad that people had knowledge that there was potential for a disaster!

sent off an email to our attorney in honolulu. hopefully, he can at least recommend a lawyer willing to take on the case. if he doesn't respond, i'll send another to renee's sister in law who works for some attorneys (not sure what type of law they practice).

"chaos reigns within.
reflect, repent and reboot.
order shall return."

microsoft error message with haiku poetry

[Bullwinkle]

"he Contractor that admits he knew there was buried green waste and built anyway? The Realtor that knew there was sinking on the property and is no longer a Realtor"

1) Errors and omissions in the professional liability coverage is my thought.

2) Building errors can also be covered if there was a course of construction policy

You need a lawyer imho