- Jurisdiction
- European Union
So, here is my long story in a nutshell:
In the 80-ies the local water utility company built a water reservoir on the hillside about 300 feet higher than the level of most part of our town is. Because of the laws of physics, the level difference caused (and still causes today) really high (145! psi) water pressure both in the pipe systems of the streets and private properties.
In the middle of the 90-ies, a new water law came into effect in our country, where this law set the min. and max. pressure of the supplied water, that water utility companies has to be abide by: 22 psi – 87 psi.
In the fall of 2012 a pipe broke (passed the water meter) on her property, while she was out of town for a week, by the time she arrived home, about 40,000! cubic feet of water has flowed away watering the neighbor's lawn.
She had to pay for the loss of water (US$ 1,100), the water company was "generous" and told her that she didn't have to pay for the sewage system part of the bill (US$ 2,400), "only" for the lost water itself. She did pay, but must have been really upset about it and must have felt totally helpless in the matter. (she never told us about this huge water bill, probably because - for some unknown reasons - she felt ashamed of what happened.)
In the spring of 2013 my sister has signed a service contract with the local water company because she wanted to have the contract on her name since the person, who had a contract with the company has moved to another town.
Fast forward to the fall of 2013, the pipes broke on her property again (passed the water meter), but at this time my sister was already in hospital where she passed away a few days later.
I had to take maters in my hand and turned out that at this time 53,000! cubic feet of water flowed away but because of misreading the water meter at THAT time I only had to pay $107 for 5,300 cubic feet of water, the sewage fee was also canceled at that time.
In the spring of 2015 I signed a service contract with the same water company since I inherited the property from my sister. The summer of 2015 was a lot hotter than usually, one day I decided to take a shower in the outdoor shower on this property and to my greatest surprise the tiny streams of water were hitting my skin so hard that actually I felt real pain. I managed to take a measurement of the pressure of the water a few days later and was shocked to see 140-145 psi on my water pressure gauge.
I contacted the water company and filed a complaint about it. The servicemen from the company came out 3 days later and installed a water pressure regulator (set to 45 psi by the factory) right in front of the water meter.
Then I knew right away, that more than likely this really high pressure must had been the cause of the pipe breakages in 2012 and 2013 but by then I was over it, back then I paid only a $100 for it, I'm not going to do anything about it, figured life must go on.
In the late fall of 2015 the water meter was checked and read by a serviceman (who does this once a year, or should have done it once a year but hasn't done it since 2012) and to my next shock, he said that the meter is showing not around the value of 6,400 but 64,000 cu.ft. It turned out that he was right and the serviceman who took a reading of that meter right after the 2013 pipe broke, he misread the gauge then and since that day this is how I reported the water meter online.
As a result I got a nice US$ 3,500 water bill for the missing 1500 cu. ft. water on the Christmas of 2015.
Cutting the story short now, in early 2016 the water company did not admit the fault of misreading the water meter in 2013, they claimed that I either used up all the 53,000 cu. ft of water between the fall of 2013 and the fall of 2015 or there was another water line brakeage that I didn't report, therefore I have to pay for the sewage part of the bill too.
I turned to the Consumer protection office, 6 mo. later they came up with nothing, they said, I have to go to civil court and sue the water company.
Then (in 2017) I turned to the gov. office that supposed to overlook the operation of the water company, I was told the same thing: go to court. I appealed this decision at the court that is equivalent of the Circuit Courts in the US., same result with a nice icing on the cake: The judge said that the gov. office whose decision I appealed, does NOT have oversight rights of the water companies. What a joke.
I still have the memory flash card that I used to take pictures of the water meter right after the pipes broke in 2013, I might have to use it involving a digital photography expert to prove, that the water meter was misread in 2013 and I also have many neighbors' signed statement that I haven't had water line brakeage since 2013… so I have many direct and indirect proofs to prove my case, but that venue seems to be a type of venue that can drag this case out for years, cost a lot of legal fees.
A few months ago I found another angle that if I take that route, might cut the time of my legal case short and win it but so far I couldn't found someone who would give me an honest opinion about it, so here it is:
One of the section of the Civil Code (of my country) mentions, that if a contract was breached intentionally, AND the plaintiff can prove that it was done intentionally, then that fact by itself is enough for the judge to decide the case siding with the plaintiff and there is no need to go into details of the case, prove this or that, to call witnesses, etc..
So far here is the list of statements that I'd use for proving that the water company did in fact breach the service contract intentionally and to top of all, more than once:
1. The water company built the reservoir on such hight (300') that resulted 145 psi water pressure in our area starting in the 80-ies. The company employed (and still employs) highly qualified engineers who knew what they were doing.
2. The water law came out in 1995 that set the max. water pressure at 87 psi, the water company must have read that law since it came out gazillion times including their engineers who notified the management about all areas, that did not pass the test and had to do something about it. They've done nothing about it in the following 20 years!
3. After the water line breakage in 2012, when my sister paid $ 1,100 the servicemen, who came out to check the cause of the breakage, should have installed a water pressure regulator on my sister's property to prevent future line breakage, they did nothing, the company just collected the money.
4. My sister signed a service contract with the water company in early 2013, while the water company was fully aware of the high water pressure problem in the area in question. Therefore the water company was in breach of service contract right from the moment of signing it by both parties.
5. After the water line breakage in 2013, when I paid $ 100, (because the servicemen misread the meter) who came out to check the cause of the breakage, should have installed a water pressure regulator AGAIN on our property to prevent future line breakage, they did nothing, the company just collected the money.
6. I signed a service contract with the water company in early 2015, while the water company was fully aware of the high water pressure problem in the area in question. Therefore the water company was in breach of service contract right from the moment of signing it by both parties AGAIN.
7. When I filed a complaint about the high water pressure at the water company in the summer of 2015, THEN and only then the water company was willing to install a water pressure regulator – free of charge.
So, my questions to all experts on this forum are these:
If this story would have happened in the US, what would be the best venue for me to win it in court?
Would these 7 points would satisfy a judge in California as a proof for intentional being of a breach of contract?
The text of the law says that what has to be proved is that the defendant breached the contract to intentionally cause (financial, property, etc.) harm or damage to the plaintiff.
My take on this is, that
1. If the water company signed a contract two times within 2 years in such a manner, that actually the company was breaching it while signing it, must be a sure proof of intentional act.
2. Even if the company did not mean to do harm specifically to my sister or 2 years later to me, by not acting on the 1995 water law since 1995 must mean that the company meant to do harm and breach contract of all consumers or citizens in the water supply area in question. Since I AM a consumer, through this logical equation it means, that the company did mean to do harm or cause damage to my sister and me.
Am I right, or am I right?
just kidding: Am I right or wrong – in legal terms?
I apologize for exaggerating a bit at the beginning of this post "story in a nut shell", it turned out to be more like a coconut shell.
Besides my questions, do you have any advice or idea in this case?
In the 80-ies the local water utility company built a water reservoir on the hillside about 300 feet higher than the level of most part of our town is. Because of the laws of physics, the level difference caused (and still causes today) really high (145! psi) water pressure both in the pipe systems of the streets and private properties.
In the middle of the 90-ies, a new water law came into effect in our country, where this law set the min. and max. pressure of the supplied water, that water utility companies has to be abide by: 22 psi – 87 psi.
In the fall of 2012 a pipe broke (passed the water meter) on her property, while she was out of town for a week, by the time she arrived home, about 40,000! cubic feet of water has flowed away watering the neighbor's lawn.
She had to pay for the loss of water (US$ 1,100), the water company was "generous" and told her that she didn't have to pay for the sewage system part of the bill (US$ 2,400), "only" for the lost water itself. She did pay, but must have been really upset about it and must have felt totally helpless in the matter. (she never told us about this huge water bill, probably because - for some unknown reasons - she felt ashamed of what happened.)
In the spring of 2013 my sister has signed a service contract with the local water company because she wanted to have the contract on her name since the person, who had a contract with the company has moved to another town.
Fast forward to the fall of 2013, the pipes broke on her property again (passed the water meter), but at this time my sister was already in hospital where she passed away a few days later.
I had to take maters in my hand and turned out that at this time 53,000! cubic feet of water flowed away but because of misreading the water meter at THAT time I only had to pay $107 for 5,300 cubic feet of water, the sewage fee was also canceled at that time.
In the spring of 2015 I signed a service contract with the same water company since I inherited the property from my sister. The summer of 2015 was a lot hotter than usually, one day I decided to take a shower in the outdoor shower on this property and to my greatest surprise the tiny streams of water were hitting my skin so hard that actually I felt real pain. I managed to take a measurement of the pressure of the water a few days later and was shocked to see 140-145 psi on my water pressure gauge.
I contacted the water company and filed a complaint about it. The servicemen from the company came out 3 days later and installed a water pressure regulator (set to 45 psi by the factory) right in front of the water meter.
Then I knew right away, that more than likely this really high pressure must had been the cause of the pipe breakages in 2012 and 2013 but by then I was over it, back then I paid only a $100 for it, I'm not going to do anything about it, figured life must go on.
In the late fall of 2015 the water meter was checked and read by a serviceman (who does this once a year, or should have done it once a year but hasn't done it since 2012) and to my next shock, he said that the meter is showing not around the value of 6,400 but 64,000 cu.ft. It turned out that he was right and the serviceman who took a reading of that meter right after the 2013 pipe broke, he misread the gauge then and since that day this is how I reported the water meter online.
As a result I got a nice US$ 3,500 water bill for the missing 1500 cu. ft. water on the Christmas of 2015.
Cutting the story short now, in early 2016 the water company did not admit the fault of misreading the water meter in 2013, they claimed that I either used up all the 53,000 cu. ft of water between the fall of 2013 and the fall of 2015 or there was another water line brakeage that I didn't report, therefore I have to pay for the sewage part of the bill too.
I turned to the Consumer protection office, 6 mo. later they came up with nothing, they said, I have to go to civil court and sue the water company.
Then (in 2017) I turned to the gov. office that supposed to overlook the operation of the water company, I was told the same thing: go to court. I appealed this decision at the court that is equivalent of the Circuit Courts in the US., same result with a nice icing on the cake: The judge said that the gov. office whose decision I appealed, does NOT have oversight rights of the water companies. What a joke.
I still have the memory flash card that I used to take pictures of the water meter right after the pipes broke in 2013, I might have to use it involving a digital photography expert to prove, that the water meter was misread in 2013 and I also have many neighbors' signed statement that I haven't had water line brakeage since 2013… so I have many direct and indirect proofs to prove my case, but that venue seems to be a type of venue that can drag this case out for years, cost a lot of legal fees.
A few months ago I found another angle that if I take that route, might cut the time of my legal case short and win it but so far I couldn't found someone who would give me an honest opinion about it, so here it is:
One of the section of the Civil Code (of my country) mentions, that if a contract was breached intentionally, AND the plaintiff can prove that it was done intentionally, then that fact by itself is enough for the judge to decide the case siding with the plaintiff and there is no need to go into details of the case, prove this or that, to call witnesses, etc..
So far here is the list of statements that I'd use for proving that the water company did in fact breach the service contract intentionally and to top of all, more than once:
1. The water company built the reservoir on such hight (300') that resulted 145 psi water pressure in our area starting in the 80-ies. The company employed (and still employs) highly qualified engineers who knew what they were doing.
2. The water law came out in 1995 that set the max. water pressure at 87 psi, the water company must have read that law since it came out gazillion times including their engineers who notified the management about all areas, that did not pass the test and had to do something about it. They've done nothing about it in the following 20 years!
3. After the water line breakage in 2012, when my sister paid $ 1,100 the servicemen, who came out to check the cause of the breakage, should have installed a water pressure regulator on my sister's property to prevent future line breakage, they did nothing, the company just collected the money.
4. My sister signed a service contract with the water company in early 2013, while the water company was fully aware of the high water pressure problem in the area in question. Therefore the water company was in breach of service contract right from the moment of signing it by both parties.
5. After the water line breakage in 2013, when I paid $ 100, (because the servicemen misread the meter) who came out to check the cause of the breakage, should have installed a water pressure regulator AGAIN on our property to prevent future line breakage, they did nothing, the company just collected the money.
6. I signed a service contract with the water company in early 2015, while the water company was fully aware of the high water pressure problem in the area in question. Therefore the water company was in breach of service contract right from the moment of signing it by both parties AGAIN.
7. When I filed a complaint about the high water pressure at the water company in the summer of 2015, THEN and only then the water company was willing to install a water pressure regulator – free of charge.
So, my questions to all experts on this forum are these:
If this story would have happened in the US, what would be the best venue for me to win it in court?
Would these 7 points would satisfy a judge in California as a proof for intentional being of a breach of contract?
The text of the law says that what has to be proved is that the defendant breached the contract to intentionally cause (financial, property, etc.) harm or damage to the plaintiff.
My take on this is, that
1. If the water company signed a contract two times within 2 years in such a manner, that actually the company was breaching it while signing it, must be a sure proof of intentional act.
2. Even if the company did not mean to do harm specifically to my sister or 2 years later to me, by not acting on the 1995 water law since 1995 must mean that the company meant to do harm and breach contract of all consumers or citizens in the water supply area in question. Since I AM a consumer, through this logical equation it means, that the company did mean to do harm or cause damage to my sister and me.
Am I right, or am I right?
just kidding: Am I right or wrong – in legal terms?
I apologize for exaggerating a bit at the beginning of this post "story in a nut shell", it turned out to be more like a coconut shell.
Besides my questions, do you have any advice or idea in this case?
