Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

A recent atmospheric river caused significant rain to fall in Oakland, CA. Our neighboring property is an apartment complex, downhill from three residential properties that abut the property line. When the apartment building was constructed, a permit was issued for a retaining wall to be constructed. This retaining wall runs the length of the apartment complex property line and is on the rear of the three residential properties. I am in Property A. The retaining wall failed along the line of Property B. When the wall failed, it damaged our retaining wall, as well as the wall for Property C. Residents of the complex were overheard saying that the wall had been leaning and bowing for some time and the excessive rain cause the failure. Who is responsible for the repair? The drawings and property line notate in 1959 that the wall was constructed as part of the complex build, and the fences that were facing our property were positioned with the "nice side" facing our property as well. It also seems that Property B had ground coverings so none of the rainwater was being absorbed by their property and instead was gathering behind the retaining wall, which had no visible draining built in. Our property is in danger of additional damage should the remaining wall not be shored up properly now, however we do not want to touch the wall in the likelihood we could be held liable. We are meeting with Property B and Property C on Sunday but are not involving the complex owner at this time. When we spoke with him on Sunday he was placing the blame on Property B because of her groundcover and also making comments about his engineering expertise. So where is the liability and to what degree?


Asked on 10/29/21, 12:01 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

There is no way to evaluate liability based on the limited information in your question, not because you don't provide enough, but because liability in cases like this depends on information that is not yet available, or not conclusively established. Conclusive evaluation is going to require knowing exactly where the property lines are, and probably an engineering evaluation of the wall. My best guess is that since the wall was built as part of the apartment complex, it is likely to be on the apartment's property, and it should have been built with drainage behind it to relieve ground water pressure. That would make it mostly if not entirely on the apartment complex owner(s). If it was already failing, it also should probably have been repaired before it failed. But that's just guessing based on how these things usually turn out.

My firm is in Oakland, and I usually offer a free initial consultation. Depending on the time, I suppose I could give the free initial consultation on-site when you meet with the other owners. Let me know if you would like me to see if I can be there.

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Answered on 10/30/21, 12:04 pm


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