You might want to start by hiring a hydrologist to review aerial photos and maps, including historical ones, to understand why the drainage has changed over the years. If you hire an experienced lawyer in these types of cases, the lawyer would likely start by hiring a hydrologist. A hydrologist might charge as much as $5,000 to do a reliable initial investigation. Thus, it's not worthwhile unless the damage is more severe than this. If there are several downstream property owners affected, it might be possible to share this cost. The liability of upstream owners would likely depend on whether they acted reasonably under the circumstances, which I know is not a very useful rule for you. The hydrologist, however, can tell you whether upstream owners acted reasonably. www.blumcollins.com

You need to hire a lawyer, because no agency is going to do anything for you, and there are very short time deadlines and special procedures for suing the county. Then there are other problems: did you need to challenge the developments that were approved way back when? Is the county's decision to let debris accumulate in the runoff area immune from lawsuit, for example as a discretionary function? Are there other property owners affected by this issue, and are there any pending lawsuits? Is there some administrative board or commission that you are required to go to (to "exhaust administrative remedies") before you can file a lawsuit?

I worked on a very similar case, where we sued the City and County of San Francisco, San Mateo, and others for acts that caused Lake Merced to rise and affected drainage systems and caused flooding to dozens of properties. I am familiar with the issues. Please send an email to my office.

Best,

Daniel Bakondi, Esq.

danielbakondi@yahoo.com

415-450-0424

The Law Office of Daniel Bakondi, APLC

870 Market Street, Suite 1161

San Francisco CA 94102

http://www.danielbakondi.com

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