Case of the Month: Warehouse Water Leaks – From the Neighbor?

The claimant sued the insured for causing mud and water damage to the claimant’s warehouse.   Specifically, the damage was allegedly caused by the insured’s recent construction activities at the insured’s adjacent warehouse.   GEI was assigned to investigate both sites and determine the cause and approximate age of the water intrusion of the claimant’s site.

Case of the Month: The Toppling Back Yard Walls

The homeowner lived on a hillside.  The house was at street level and the backyard descended steeply down the slope for several dozen yards. The homeowner hired a contractor to build a retaining wall and then a timber deck extending from the rear of the house to the top of the retaining wall.  Several years later, the homeowner had a contractor put in additional retaining walls to effectively terrace the remaining back yard with decks and planting areas.  A year later an irrigation pipe broke and the water caused several of the walls and stairs to collapse.  Our client wished to know whether the walls failed first or whether the pipe failed first.