San Antonio’s KSAT 12 reports that the city hired a contractor to upgrade their sidewalks in a project valued at $1.9 million. The city’s contractor performed their duty of upgrading the sidewalks, but one local resident is suing.
A homeowner in the area is sewing the city and the contractor they hired for $800.
The man, Eric Perez, asked the city to pay for the bill. He alleges that the contractor damaged his plumbing system when they were upgrading the sidewalks. The result was a sewer pipe repair that cost Perez $800 to correct.
KSAT Defenders were called for help when the city chose not to do anything about Perez’s request.
Perez, a rental property owner, states that he saw a hole in his front yard with a water pipe exposed. The hole, made by the city’s contractor, was next to an area where the contractor was installing the new sidewalk. The exposed pipe looked, according to Perez, that it has been repaired by someone.
He claims he went into his home and found that some of his plumbing fixtures were not working. Water pressure in the home was also very low. He claims his sink and toilet were unusable, so he did what any other homeowner would do, and called in a plumber to fix the issue.
Perez alleges that the pipe was damaged around November 2 and he didn’t notice the issue until the 3rd when he went to check on the rental property. He called the city multiple times to try and find out what happened on his property, but he couldn’t reach anyone who was willing to help him.
The San Antonio Water System was equally unhelpful, telling the homeowner that since the problem was on his side of the property, it was up to him to have the issue repaired.
Perez’s plumber found that the broken pipe caused dirt to enter into the home’s water lines, causing them to become clogged. The plumber had to clear all of the lines and replace the bathroom fill valve and faucet.
The city eventually contacted Perez with a letter claiming that after an investigation, they were not negligent in the matter. The city did claim that the contractor may be liable for the damages and provided their contact information in their response.
Allbrite Construction, the company responsible for the sidewalk repairs, quickly declined Perez’s request and told him they would not be paying for his bill. Perez contacted Defenders to help him make his case known.
The city claims that the contractor claims that they did not go on the property and are not allowed on private property. They claim that they were not the ones who dug the hole. The contractor admits to moving a water meter in front of the property, and they allege that no damage occurred at that time.
A representative for the contractor states that they have provided Perez with the contact information for their insurance company, and they state Perez has not replied to the company reaching out to him. He denies these claims.
The Defenders found that the inspector, sent by the San Antonio Water System, wrote that the contractor made repairs to have the homeowner’s service back up and running the same day. The report conflicts with the contractor’s and San Antonio Water System’s initial response that no incident had occurred.
Perez is still waiting for the city or contractor to make arrangements to pay the plumbing bill.