Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Code Upgrade Circumstance:

* Homeowner sustains property damage by city subcontractor

* City is congenial and immediately accepts responsibility of repairs

* During the walk-through of damages, city calls out code upgrades

* Homeowner is not requesting and cannot afford code upgrades

* City says it cannot, by law, pay for any code upgrades

* City says homeowner is responsible for upgrades

* Repairs will eventually be subrogated by city against subcontractor

Question: What options are available for an AMICABLE resolution? Is it standard procedure for cities to require homeowners (victims of city damage) to bring their (older) property up to code in these circumstances? The homeowner is not requestion code upgrades, but if they are required by the city as a result of damage inspection caused to homeowner by others, can those expenses be subrogated by the city (along with cost of repairs) against the subcontractor?


Asked on 7/20/10, 6:04 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You have too complex a situation to cover it here. Some code upgrades the city cannot require, others they can. You have the right to go after the subcontractor directly as well as the city. Different liability attaches to each, depending on what code upgrades are needed and why. Your best bet is to tender this to your homeowners insurance carrier and let them sort it out. Otherwise you need to hire an experienced construction and municipal law attorney to sort it all out and if necessary go after the responsible party(ies).

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Answered on 7/20/10, 9:46 pm


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