wrote in message
oups.com...
The good news is that I do have expert testimony as well as testimony
from my neighbors.

The pipe burst was at a 90-degree joint, it is a pvc pipe, and my house
is about 7 years old. The pipe has been dug up a retained as evidence
to show the burst and the condition of the pipes, which is not old or
corroded. The joint broke on the water supply side, indicating the
water pressure surge came from the water main, versus on the side
leading to the house. We do have very high water pressure where we
live, it is around 100 psi, and pressure reducer gage going into the
house.

The repair was completed around 5pm on a Friday, and water was gushing
up from my driveway at 8am on Sunday, so I am assuming it broke before
then, but took that long before it was visable gushing from the
driveway.


If its small claims go for it, all you have to loose now is the court fee
and a little time. (unless you're paying that expert). You might even win.
Judges can be unpredictable and often side with the little guy.

Even if the water never was turned off, pressure fluctuations would be
expected. even if the pressure was higher afterward, I'm sure they can
document that it was within spec. If they had seriously exceeded limits,
you would not be the only victim. The street work probably did influence
the failure of your pipe but I don't see the city as liable. What they did
was reveal a latent defect.

The way I see it is PVC under a driveway was an accident waiting to happen
and an elbow would be an expected stress point. Compaction of the driveway
fill at the time of construction or from cars driving over it afterward
could have weakened the thicker plastic elbow leaving it as a failure
waiting to happen. A crack in the plastic can sit for years but if just a
little more pressure hits it can split wide open. Furthermore, turbulence
can scour the inside of a pipe and remove material or setup acoustic
vibrations that ultimately weaken the joint. An elbow especially one with
some glue drips inside would be close to the worse case for this. I know it
is a well known effect in copper but not sure how common in PVC but I
wouldn't expect it to be immune.

Unless your expert is a materials failure analyst and you cross section the
pipe (or whatever is appropriate), that broken pipe is just evidence that
the pipe did break and where but not how or why.

The facts of the failure are one thing, its how the judge sees liability
when a circumstantial cause and effect is argued and if those circumstances
constituted negligence on anyone's part. That I don't know.

Good luck