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.