Advise on a possible legal matter involving hydro and dogs
 

So as some people might know, my yard looks like a nuke went off... It has for the past 3 months... Hydro is preparing to install new high voltage lines that run over my property and there will be a tower installed in the front yard. 3 months ago they started falling trees, they removed all my fences and left a huge mess... They never finished removing all the stumps and alot of the branches. They haven't been back to do any work in almost 2 months.

I have 2 German shephards which I had never had problems with until the tree fallers showed up.

First incident happened when the fallers had this great idea to lock up both my dogs in the single kennel I have in the back... Well, you put 2 female Germans in 8x8 enclosure they're gonna fight

I came home to a dog that was covered in mud and blood and 8 stitches later she was unable to walk for a week. I had to hold her up when I took her outside to do her business...

Ever since the fences came down I've been having problems with the dogs leaving the yard, they're 2 of the friendliest German shepherds you'd ever meet so they were never a problem with the few neighbors I have. Problem is the road....


Well this morning my smaller female got hit by a truck, I'm on the way to the vet as I type this. She'll live tho, got lucky and only injury is to her back leg.

I have called the general contractor in charge of the project many many times about my fences and every time I've called I get the same answer "we'll get the fences up next week"

This has been going on for 2 months now and I'm getting to the point where I don't know what to do anymore....


Any advise?

Also don't say lock your dogs up. I live on 10 Acres that were fenced off before hydro decided to butcher the property and well, it's unfair to the dogs to be locked up or chained up 24/7.

Ill post some pics tomorrow of the mess they left.

I was planning on having my daughters second birthday party at home with a pool and bouncy castle for the kids but in all honestly my yard is embarrassing and unsafe to walk around in.
Also they're gonna have fun trying to install that tower if they don't pay all the vet bills.

It may be unfair to lock them up, but it might be a better alternative to stitches and broken legs. I don't think the contractor will change what he's doing. I would try to find the person above the contractor and start phoning multiple times a day until you get definitive answers.

Good luck with everything and I am glad your dogs are alright.

Did you sign anything for the access to the yard. Was there any reimbursement for damages?

You may have several legal recourses, but you may have to talk to a lawyer.

+1
It sucks that nobody seems to want to take responsibility for your situation but in reality, you have to deal with the issue as it lays.

It not your fault, but you gotta keep your dogs best interest at heart, and if being chained up until the project is done is what it takes to keep them safe, it's probably worth doing.

I sure hope you put a call into a lawyer here.
I would hate to hear you were held responsible for their vet bills.

I would look into suing for a variety of reasons including vet bills and undue stress.

Why does the hydro company have a right to do what they've done to your property and why was this not an in/out project? Someone is accountable for your damages unless this was all agreed upon. Even if you have an easement for a utility right of way, they should have had to either provided temporary fencing or resecured your property while they were on it.

There's got to be more to this. My SIL had the town they are in take part of their property for a residential development, they had to pay, fence and replant trees/shrubs that were removed, relocated or became part of the development and make them 100% whole again. They were also paid for this portion of the land, all legals and new rpr.

I wouldn't have let them step foot on my property without some sort of agreement to protect the property and family.

hydro
 

go have a chat with your mla.they might be helpful in resolving or steering you in the right direction.as far as i remember hydro is still a public owned corporation

I would raise a stink about the mess left and all but as far as the dogs and the vet bills they are your dogs to keep safe , if it was my dog and an yard that wasn't safe I would go thru the steps and make sure it was safe for them so they can't get hurt, sorry that's just the way I see it I do hope your doggy is alright though

Unfortunately it is legislated whether on private property or not any tree/obstruction on a BC hydro right of way and 50 ft to either side hydro maintains all rights of removal of any trees/obstruction but are not required to clean up either. I had my own battle with them 4 yrs ago I live right beside a hydro right of way and had a tree removed as it was higher than the hydro lines but outside the 50 foot exclusion zone but hydro deemed it a danger to the lines so they told me it was coming down the contractor took down the tree and they took the bigger stuff but I was left to clean up the branches and stump.

As to the fence and dogs I feel that you have the expectation of recourse because they destroyed private property(fence) and caused unnessecary suffering to your animals.

As far as I've been informed (by a lawyer) it's different because they're putting in a second set of lines, not doing maintenance for the original lines

They fell a tree on our fence and notified us that they're going to remove all the fences and replace them after the trees were fell

Do you have the notification still of them replacing your fence if so I would take that to regional hydro manager and start from there or go directly to the BC obundsmun office or go public take it to a news media outlet.

I have been through this with Manitoba Hydro in MB. If there is an existing easement on the properly you can find it at the land tiles department for your existing land. It should show if they have an easement and this will be on the title. If it is........it has been written long ago and they will have the right to use this land even though they don't pay for it anymore. MB hydro had a right of way at the back of our acreage and then they wanted me to sign to have underground hydro installed across my property.(not for my use, to supply the town with underground) I would never allow that to happen.

So check your land titles office and see what is on your property. It will cost you to get the records and useful for a lawyer to hold their feet to the fire.

As far as the dogs go....they are still your responsibility and from what you have said you love them....so keep them safe until this is settled.

Good Luck.

In my opinion, the only way to get things done is to talk to Global news and get them to come out and do a story about it . The hardest part is try to remain calm and be " politically correct".

who's the contractor?

Good and bad news about the dog

Her leg was pretty messed up and I though broken for sure but X-rays didn't come up with anything broken in her leg. She has already gotten the surgery on her leg done and it all went well.

Bad news, her tail is broken and there's a chance they might have to amputate it.

Fortunately no internal bleeding or damage tho which is surprising as she went under the truck.

She will be staying at the vet overnight for observation and after that at my mother in-laws house until they put my fences back up. As for my other German shephard it looks like I'm going to have a 85lb indoor dog until my fences are done. Good thing I don't have carpet :)

If I can get my fences up and vet bills paid i won't be saying any names, if not, ill let you know later

Wishing your girl a speedy recovery!! Sorry you are having to deal with this!

Troubleshooter. They love getting their mitts on public works f&#%-ups!

It doesn't matter if there is a contract or an agreement in place or not. This sounds like it would fall under an area of law called tort law. You need to prove three things.

1) The contractor owed you a duty of care. Which I think they did as they are working on your property regardless of anything else.
2) The contractor was negligent. I am not too sure about this one.
3) Measurable damages were incurred due to the contractor negligence.

I'm not a lawyer, but have had to study some law. But you can get free legal advice generally.

Also I am really sorry to hear about your dog, I would be furious.

You need to be documenting this, everything; dates, times, receipts from your vet, phone bills. You never know what you may have to prove or disprove. Notate all your calls, down to the minute if you can, and outline the history of the issue. You are being jerked around by this contractor. I would not put it past them to jerk you around further should you press the issue; some people become very defensive over such things.

You might try calling the Utility company's compliance department - a call to report unsafe work conditions or unsafe job sites by the company tend to light fires under bottoms.

Are you the owner or renter of said property?

lease

Tyler, sorry to be reading about these dang issues with the contractor/BC Hydro.

I would communicate with BC Hydro and get as high up as you can. Mention that you have the contact info for Global News (or other tv station) and if this doesn't get resolved, the "poop" is going to hit the fan because you will go public with these issues. People love dogs and so you should get a lot of public support and BC Hydro's management should know that they will have a bad PR problem if they do not resolve this.

I had to deal with a bad insurance company a few years ago and my threat to go on the news and post online what they were trying to do straightened things out very quickly. Whoever you are talking to will probably be held responsible if they received your very legitimate complaint and then did nothing to resolve the issues even though you told them you would go to the News media with the story if nothing happens.

Good luck.

Anthony

call the Mayer. It will work. I know, cus my wife works for the government and that's how the citizens gets the city to get down and actually do something.

gl buddy, sorry to hear about your dog.

seeing as you are not the property owner they don't have to do anything for you, I would ask the owner to request a temp fence be put up out of the way to at least make a safe area for the dogs.

problem is with the easement it is the owners property, but he signed the terms of the easement, normally from what I have seen is they have every right to do what they will on the said area and only have to return it to a similar state afterwords. even this they don't have to make it exactly like it was. they will redo the fence and landscaping, but they won't normally redo cement and that kind of thing as your not supposed to put that on an easement in the first place.

so my recommendation is to get the land owner involved on a temp fence to close up your yard again or at least a reasonable area for the dogs, maybe 50x50

Steve

So I got the bill and found out exactly everything that is wrong with bear.

Broken tail, possibly needs to be amputated
Liver damage from loss of blood
Lung damage from the impact
Torn tendon in her rear leg
Muscle damage to her rear leg
(Her bone in her leg was exposed but not broken)

Total cost= just over 2000$
And she has to go back to the vet every 2 days

Monday ill be contacting a lawyer

Sorry to hear about you dog I really am ! It's to bad you won't take responsibility for your animals though anybody that lives by accessible road with dogs should know that a dog will run out onto the road it's just common sense ......if it was the next day I could understand MAYBE! But two -three months later ???? Give me a break it was bound to happen ..... As bad as I make this sound I do hope your pup a speedy and full recovery just you need to suck it up and assume your responsibility to your animals

Well that saved me saying the same or as the cool kids do, +1

+1. If you KNOW you dogs can get out. Its your fault it was hurt. Dogs don't know any better. And acerage or not, if cars go by there is a risk. A responsible pet owner would lean to a minor inconvenience over injury.

Sorry for your luck.