Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

main drain pipe in recently bought home

we purchased a home and got posession on Oct 17,2006. by november 25, we experienced water backing up in one of the bathrooms, toilet, we did not use tub any. we had a roto-rooter guy out and was there 6 hours, and finally came to a halt , when he noticed gravel in the pipe, by running a camera hose thru pipe. our house is on a slab. it was 14 feet from the toilet, into the living room where the problem was. we had section of floor cut out & dug down to pipe and at least 6 feet of pipe was filled with gravel. this was all we exposed with out tearing up the whole living room floor(slab), we had to abandon the pipe and will have to re route from front to back yard to main sewer line. we feel that the previous owners had to had some type of problem in the near past, the top of 4'' cast iron pipe was rusted and eroded out. do you feel we have a case and that they should be responsible for it, it was not in the disclosure that something was wrong with the pipe. the previous owners had 3 kids at home also. they couldnt have used that bathroom much or any for a while, if did, then they would had to have experienced some tyoe of problem. what are your thoughts. who is responsible and do we have a case? thanks


Asked on 2/07/07, 7:24 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Burton Padove Indiana and Illinois Lawyer, Burton A. Padove

Re: main drain pipe in recently bought home

The prior owners would be liable if they had knowledge of the problem and failed to disclose it. You should ask your plumber if he can give you an opinion thatthe problem was long lasting and that the priot owner had to have had a problem. If he will opine to that, you would have a chance of winning in court.

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Answered on 2/07/07, 9:24 am


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