bombcar said:Protip: Stay away from the hole.
too late

nycll said:Beckles said:There is pic showing the house line.Only a small portion of it, it does not appear they are replacing his lateral, maybe a small portion of it to make sure the tap to the sewer line is good, but not all the way to the house.That's still a good thing, no?

Yes, technically the owner is responsible for everything to the city line including the tap.

BlueEyesAustinTexas said:Yes, technically the owner is responsible for everything to the city line including the tap.Depends on the utility, some utilities you own all the way to the tap, others take responsibility for the tap, others take responsibility to the clean-out, which should be near the property line.

IcemanPk said:At least your crap will have somewhere to go now. Would you be on here complaining had the sewer line failed in your yard and it backed up in to your house?
Speaking of which, if you're in the same situation, buy a pop-up sewer cap. It's like $30, and it's WAY cheaper than having to fix up your house later. Might leave you with a smelly yard for a week or so, but I'd say it's worth it.

Here's one

Another

Call the city, and ask them about the work - or tell your lawyer to do it for you.

Or, you could take the opportunity to fall into the hole and sue the contractors for injuries, etc. It's not often that a homeowner can fall into a hole in their own backyard and sue someone else, so this may be a gift from above.

7890 said:1. Take a walk in your backyard at night
2. Fall into hole, and break leg
3. Sue

PolarDude said:Trip, and fall in the ditch. Get hurt. Sue the pants off the city. Profit.

mannyv said:Or, you could take the opportunity to fall into the hole and sue the contractors for injuries, etc.

If you have actual knowledge that there's a hole and you don't exercise reasonable care not to fall in, you've contributed to the injury.

Though this varies, in my state this would likely limit your recovery significantly due to contributory negligence. You'd be lucky to get 100% reimbursement of actual medical expenses.

Next go-around City hires 5 guys for lawsuit prevention, but heck, OP made out. Let the rest of the taxpayers fund the one who sues if there is a hole in the backyard or if sewer backs up. Win-win for OP. Yaayyy USA!!!

I don't understand why any city doesn't visit or send a notice to those folks addresses where work is going to be done, easements or not. It would eliminate all of the guessing and bad feelings toward the city. I think they just have a lets do it get it done, and if someone has a beef with us we will deal with that later.

I had some drains being put in an easement by the city between my house and my neighbor.
The city not only cut down the trees leaving a big mess, but also got their bulldozer stuck on my property as it was leaning in the ditch and taking 1/2 my side yard with it.

After alot of bitching, I finally got them to pay to have a landscaper to smooth out and re lay the sod.

Fall in the ditch and hurt yourself (just badly enough to make that property yours).

My city uses wireless sewer lines so we don't have this problem.