Posted on 01/06/2011 9:39:18 AM PST by Cowman
The American dream of home ownership didn't exactly exit the last decade on a high note, with the mortgage sector on still-shaky ground, the housing market stagnating and foreclosures at historic highs. So it was gratuitously devastating for Andre Hall of Pittsburgh -- who was in the process of reclaiming a foreclosed property, no less -- to return from the holidays to discover that the city had accidentally demolished his property....
"I don't come for a week over the holiday, and as soon as I come back, I see a backhoe on top of the house," he said. "Why did they demolish the house? They could see I had put in new windows and had slabs of drywall."...
Experiences like Hall's are distressingly common. There's the homeowner in Carrollton, Georgia, who saw the house built by his father flattened by careless city contractors who'd been following a faulty GPS locator. There was the woman in Denton, Texas, who was working in her garden as a demolition crew, mistaking her lot for a condemned property across the street, gouged an enormous hole into her front yard, which promptly claimed her porch, and rendered the remainder of the house structurally unstable. And there's the Jackson, Miss., woman whose home was flattened after pranksters took a sign erected to condemn an adjacent vacant lot and placed it in front of her home....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Technically speaking, this was not accident.
They demolished the wrong house, but they did it on purpose.
Heard the city says they are not responsible; it is the responsibility of the contractor.
When the city contracted with the demolition company, the demolition company became an agent of the city. The city is responsible for the actions of their contracted agents.
I will admit to wondering if Mr Hall had a Republican yard sign or Gadsen flag visible on his property
City contractors and demolition workers?
I wish someone would accidentally demolish my house. I could use some upgrades, just spare the cat please.
I can see it now:
Hey- what are yoons doin’?
If he’s lucky, they won’t fine him for not having a demolition permit.
As with most contractors, they'll have already filed for bankruptcy and get off scot free. Next week they'll open under a new name.
That was my first thought as well.
That is a totally unwarranted ans scurrilous charge that could result in your own financial demise on charges of slander.
The bankrupt contractor will be backed up by his bonding company that guaranteed the prosecution of his contractual obligations.
If you had problems with contractors it is because you didn’t know how to write a contract
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