Not a lawyer or a pro at this, but I would think pressure tests on the lines would be expected. Also part of your statement was that they neglected to put up a barrier to divert the water once the main broke. That is a reasonable expectation. It rather sounds like they did not pay too much attention to the water you had the problem with. Your expectation is, you pay a water bill and you also pay a sewer bill, by paying these bills you have and so does everyone else, an expectation of these lines being maintained. The Supreme Court also has this expectation. I am not going to be able to spell this right, but a precident has been set by the courts that states, in essence, that by paying the water and sewer services you have a right to expect maintenance on these lines, preventative work. You might be able to find the ruling on law if you did a google seach on law. The way the laws were written before this was so far fetched, for example, if a town plow ran into your house, if it was the first time the town was exempt from paying damages, only if they did it a second time and you could prove it, would they accept liability. Again, you are paying for a service and the law says you have an expectation of routine prevention to keep something like this from happening. Try the google search, and I will look also. I have packed away all the documentation regarding this and I will do a search as well. When I find it, I will attempt to email it to you so you can print it out and take it in to the town and see if that "cuts the mustard".

I am in the middle of a large loss fire claim. My sentiments pretty much echo juliatallmadge's (wish I could reach her to find out how it all turned out). Mine was a high-end single family residential rental. The renter was at fault, so not only do I have the experience of dealing with my own insurance company (State Farm), I will be getting experience dealing with the renter's TWO insurance companies (one is for the general renter's policy and the other is for a general liability umbrella policy). All I can say is, it has almost been one year and the house is still standing unoccupied and untouched. The inside of the home was completely smoked out and partially structurally damaged. Only now is the claim being subrogated by my insurance company, which has paid to term limits, to the tenant's insurance company. As juliatallmadge stated, it looks like the tenant's insurance companies will try to micro-negotiate everything, so I am in the process of shopping attorneys. Since the fire was the fault of the tenant's, I deserve to be compensated for my loss. But I get the distinct feeling at this stage this will not happen without legal representation and quite possibly a legal battle that may go all the way to court. I will know more as this situation unfolds in the next 2-6 months. I can only say that State Farm has been wonderful. But be very certain to read your policy thoroughly, because even your claims adjuster can make big mistakes that you might catch. We caught a 90K mistake in our favor. Also, DO NOT make the very common mistake of being underinsured. If we had not been underinsured, we would already be started on the construction while waiting for the tenant's insurance companies to settle with us. Take pictures and videos of EVERYTHING. Open your drawers and cabinets and shoot pictures. Shoot every single feature in your house. And then store those someplace safe outside of your own home. Also, because I saw it happen, keep your computer backed up on a hard drive and store it outside of your home or in a fire/flood proof vault, as well. In my opinion, $1,200 a year for homeowner's insurance is chump change. I was paying more than that and was still underinsured.

Our upstairs washer overflowed and dripped down through our kitchen ceiling lights and onto a 4 foot long area of our hallway hardwoods. They were going to sand and refinish the entire hardwood area, including the powder room. We didn't have major cupping, so we just left it until the floors need refinishing (but they paid for the refinishing anyway). The upstairs is carpeted, and the water went a foot into two of the bedrooms. Their policy was to make everything look uniform, so they replaced all our carpeting. Are you just now opening the walls? We had a restoration company in here immediately because of the potential for mold. Sheetrock and insulation was torn out wherever their moisture meter showed moisture. We endured several days of noisy fans and dehumidifiers.

i agree with those above, pay to fix it herself, don't take the hit on choicepoint for the claim. here is the thing about choicepoint. you file a claim or even ASK about filing a claim, and your insurance score changes jsut like getting new credit. the CP score is tied to BOTH you and the home. this may not hurt HER right now, but when she sells the new owners may not be able to get insurance on the home due to concerns of possible mold. this would STOP the sale. not pause it, but stop it completely. you can run a free choicepoiint check on yourself and your home, you hav eot pay to see the scores, but the claims show. mine shows the claims the previous owner had for wind damage 9 years ago. 1 time was a few shingles, the other a couple trees. If MY score had not been very good, my agent told me they would have denied the insurance! over soemthing I did not even file.