Question:
We live in the lower half of our building, which is dug into a mountain. A neighbour below dug out behind their apartment to extend it backwards. They left a space between their new wall and the earth behind, so that damp won’t come in.
I hired a kablan to dig behind our apartment. I told the worker not to throw the earth into the space behind the neighbour’s apartment, but he did it anyway, following his foreman’s suggestion.
A pipe leaked into the earth behind our building, and the water came through the earth which had been thrown down, into the neighbour’s apartment. I had to pay the kablan to remove the damp earth from the space, because he refused to take any responsibility. He insisted that because I was paying per hour for the worker’s time, instead of a project fee, he had no responsibility for any mishaps, and that anyway there wouldn’t have been a problem if the pipe hadn’t leaked.
Can I claim the money back from the kablan?
Answer:
Answer by R’ Y. Fleishman shlit”a.
It is not possible to answer w/o hearing both parties and seeing a contract-suggest you both come to beis din or together to a rov who knows CM very well. If you can’t come we can do by zoom.
Best wishes
