Lowcountry residents know Charleston always floods, their house defects are proof of that.
Stormwater, Flooding, King tides, Sea level rise, Excessive development, Thousand year storms, Sheet flow, Pre-development versus post-development discharge, Downstream flooding, Upstream flooding, Grading, Regrading, French drains, Catch basins, Check dams. Yard inlets, Curb Inlets, NPDES, SWPPP, USACE, SCDHEC, CWS, and OCRM, trust and believe, we know there are alot of reasons and it can feel quite confusing.
Home Flooding Matters Can Be Complex
The technical jargon that clusters around Lowcountry structural defect, flooding, water damage claims is enough to make your head spin.
How can a homeowner in crisis be expected to sort it all out alone?
Yet that is exactly what Charleston area residents are faced with when they find their house flooded and inconvenient construction damage. Ben Traywick Law Firm can help!
Our construction defect lawyers regularly receive calls for legal advice and legal representation from local homeowners who have grown desperate. Homeowners who are trying to simultaneously sort through their saturated personal belongings and wade through the wordy gobbledygook of their flooding claim.
Add the complexities of a homeowners’ insurance claim, and it is no wonder that they are completely overwhelmed.
House Defects: Story of a Homeowner’s Flooding Nightmare, and It Happened Twice!
A call we received recently – which we can describe here in very general, anonymous terms – illustrates this point. A client who we’ll call Angela lives in the Charleston city limits. Angela called Ben Traywick Law Firm. She contacted our experienced civil lawyers for legal advice when stormwater filled two drainage ditches near her house, overflowed the banks, marched up her yard, came in under the front and back doors, and filled the ground floor.
Yikes! This can surely cause home defects. Plus, a migraine.
Flooding reached the point that the entire house tore out down to the studs: flooring, sheetrock, carpeting, baseboards, trim, etc. It all had to come out, as did all of her furniture.
There is a silver lining: there was nothing left in the house to be damaged when it flooded a second time just two weeks later!
Nonetheless, Angela had to move herself and her family out of their flooded home and find temporary housing. Furthermore, she conducted endless calls and meetings with insurance adjusters. She still had to run her business, too. As bad as it was, that part of Angela’s situation is the standard stuff that most of us. Undoubtedly, this is especially true for those who lived here during Hurricane Hugo – can relate to.
Why Is Angela’s Charleston Home Flooding? Can She Sue for House Defects?
While hurricanes are an inevitable part of lowcountry living, Angela’s situation is not the result of a tropical system. Her home flooded during two afternoon thunderstorms – the type that we experience regularly throughout the summertime here in Charleston, SC.
Sure, they were intense storms. Yes, the Weather Channel would have characterized them as severe. But these routine, non-tropical storms should not flood residents’ homes.
But that is exactly what happened to Angela. Twice, in a two-week period. She knew something wasn’t right, but didn’t know what to do next. Some neighbors claimed that the water was sheet-flowing off a nearby state-maintained highway, suggesting an inquiry with SCDOT.
But her observations indicated that the water came from city-owned (rather than state-owned) storm drains. When Angela called, the city’s stormwater employees said they would come take a look in the next three or four months.
Of course, this did Angela little good. Any Lowcountry local can tell you that we would see multiple major storms in the next few months.
Complicating the analysis is the fact that a regional home builder sold the final townhouse in a project half a block away just a month before. The project had recently been tied into the storm drains that served Angela’s Charleston neighborhood as well. Could the new development have contributed to her home’s flooding and structural damage by reconfiguring the flow of stormwater through the drainage basin that included her street?
Besides, the next question, “Where to begin?” Angela had to first determine why the flooding had occurred.
This would enable the responsible party to implement a solution that would prevent her and her neighbors’ houses from gaining the dreaded designation as a “repetitive flood property.” This designation renders property uninsurable, and very likely on a path to being condemned.
Keep in mind that she had been blown off by the City. SCDOT’s responsiveness was unlikely to be any better. As for persuading the developer of the new homes up the street to take the matter seriously…let’s just say we advised Angela not to hold her breath.
Nevertheless, Ben Traywick Law Firm was there to help.
Do you have grounds to sue for your home defect? Take our survey.
It May Be Time To Sue! Poor Construction Defects Could Be Why Your Home Can’t Handle Charleston Flooding
Furthermore, we offer helpful guidance based on our construction defect lawyers’ combined 20 years of civil litigation experience pursuing flooding, sitework, and other construction claims on behalf of South Carolina property owners.
The bottom line: stormwater, flooding and sitework claims are technical and complex.
Angela made the right decision when she called the civil lawyers at Ben Traywick Law Firm. Our civil litigation lawyers have been at this a long time, and we know our business inside and out. So it is no surprise that we have had our share of success in civil litigation.
And yet, we’re still picking up on new subtleties, still making nuanced analytical connections we hadn’t previously detected, still adapting to developers’ and builders’ evolving strategies to shield themselves from liability.
As strange as it may sound, Ben Traywick Law Firm’s experienced Charleston lawyers are passionate about stormwater.
Indeed, this is a feeling we have developed through many years of seeing good people suffer because of careless, profit-oriented planning by developers and builders, and lax permitting and regulatory oversight by the government agencies tasked with protecting the public.
Subsequently, our team has SC law expertise to assist with your Charleston flooding and storm water damage claims. We love the intellectual challenge of figuring out what caused a flood, but even more so, we love pursuing justice for our clients.
Is Charleston Flooding Causing House Defects? Ben Traywick Law Can Help
In conclusion, if your property floods in a hurricane, feel free to give Traywick’s Charleston law firm a call. We can help your flooding and storm water damage claims. Our team of construction defect lawyers are always glad to talk things over, answer questions and lend a hand to our Lowcountry neighbors.
But our firm’s real purpose – where we live day to day, where we really, truly help people – is when their South Carolina property floods and there is no hurricane to explain it.
Therefore, if your house or business floods, or if you, your neighbors or your HOA have persistent storm drainage problems, contact us at our Charleston law firm today.
Our South Carolina attorneys are ready to handle your Charleston flooding and storm water damage claims. Ready or not, you have been dragged onto the field of battle where Ben Traywick Law Firm fights for our clients every day.
Nevertheless, our Charleston construction defect lawyers are committed to finding a permanent solution to your stormwater problems, so call our Charleston lawyers for a free consultation to learn more about the upcoming path to compensation for your losses.
Find A Construction Defect Attorney Near Me
We can review your claim and verify SC law protects you in cases of construction contracts, builder negligence, bad contractor, structural damage, water damage, leaking windows, poorly installed renovations or other house damage and house defects where you as a homeowner have the right to sue.
Lastly, our skilled construction defect attorneys can provide skilled legal advice and legal representation for your construction defect claim. Based in Charleston, we are ready to represent your lawsuit within the Charleston area or throughout the state of South Carolina.
Can you sue for your home defects? To find out, you should take our survey.
Discover Construction Defect Attorney Near Me
