Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I need some legal direction. The neighbor across the street from my driveway where I own land complained that the pipe that goes under my gravel driveway to allow rainwater to proceed through the ditch on the side of the road (someone had paved the gravel road after we had purchased the land, resulting in increased runoff) had become blocked with small rocks and threatened to overflow and run down her driveway toward her house on a downslope, which she built long after we had put in our driveway. I had told another neighbor that I would take a look at it when I returned at Thanksgiving, but didn't have the money at that point. He apparently shared this with her, along with my home phone number and address. She left a message on my phone telling me I had to fix it. I didn't return the call, because I know she tried to bully me through a lawyer on an easement she had no right to years ago. Then she sent me a letter, telling me she had notified the county and would fix the culvert and expected me to pay for it. I didn't respond to that, either, thinking that if the county felt I was responsible, they would notify me and I would have a hearing of some sort. She went ahead, without my permission, and had it engineered and repaired. Today I received a certified letter with a bill for $3,650.00 that she is demanding I pay in two weeks or she will take "legal action."
I've never been involved in a legal conflict before, but this seems wrong to me. Even if it was my responsibility to fix, I could have had friends do it for the price of the pipe. I have my own backhoe. But I needed to see it first and I live 350 miles away. Still, can someone take action like this and just send you the bill and make you pay?
1 Answer from Attorneys
It is impossible to say with a high degree of certainty what the outcome would be of the threatened "legal action." Presumably, the neighbor is threatening to take you to Small Claims Court if you don't pay the bill. On the one hand, the court is rather likely to deny her any recovery, because it was she, not you, who ordered the work and incurred the expense. On the other hand, you may have a legal duty to prevent harm from artificially-concentrated water run-off. An owner threatened by the possibility of future water run-off damage may, in some cases, take preventive action that involves some minimal trespass or may incur expense and expect to be reimbursed. Such cases, when won by the threatened neighbor, generally require a fairly high degree of potential harm and/or a very real possibility that the feared disaster may occur.
Another problem in giving you reliable advice is that small-claims judges are unpredictable and may not have a full grasp of the cases allowing self help at the neighbor's expense, plus, you are far away and making an appearance in the local court will be a nuisance.
Further complicating giving you reliable advice is the fact that I don't know anything about the physical lay-out at the scene of the culvert-pipe project, nor what evidence there may be of the before-and-after appearance of the site. Maybe she has photos that show a completely blocked and possibly inadequate-diameter culvert. Maybe she has expert testimony from hydrologists and contractors. Or, she may have zip.
Finally, I don't know whether or to what extent you are inclined to fight her, versus negotiating a settlement or just caving in and paying the bill. If I were in your situation, and if the facts were as I imagine them most likely to be, I think I'd tell her to pay her own bill, and furthermore, to quit trespassing on my property. However, this is kind of a 51% - 49% decision, and tiny differences could tip the scales.
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