COPLAY, Pa. – A family in Coplay is looking for answers after a sinkhole damaged their house.
On October 25th, Bradley Stepp said a peaceful day at his house turned into a nightmare in seconds.
“I was relaxing out front, and the yard just kind of disappeared in front of me, and I see a whirlpool of water, and it all was just flowing into my house,” said Stepp.
He said he had to work fast to keep mold from spreading, scooping out water and mud and cutting several inches off the drywall.
“We literally had four inches of water through the entire basement. You can see the water line as you walk around,” said Stepp.
He said he had to tear up the floors in the process.
“This was all linoleum here, which had to be ripped out,” said Stepp.
But Stepp wasn’t too worried at first. He had sinkhole insurance through the company Grange Insurance. Then he filed a claim and was told the hole doesn’t fit the definition.
“A sinkhole is a naturally occurring limestone deposit that erodes over time, where this, in fact, was a man-made water main break that had, did a water washout to our house,” said Stepp.
So Stepp had to call the Northampton Borough Municipal Authority.
“We did speak with the water company to see if there was any help available. Is there a claims department where we can open up for help, saying, hey, we’re not being financially assisted by anyone, and this is all coming out of our pocketbook essentially, and they stated that there’s no help,” said Stepp.
“You came to them, you said your pipe washed out my lawn. They said we’re sorry, but sue us,” said 69 News Reporter Rob Manch.
“Yes,” said Stepp.
Stepp said, if they find a lawyer to take the case, it’s got to be pro bono.
“We’re out of money, and there’s no way I’m going to be able to figure out how to pay for a lawyer on top of this,” said Stepp.
But he’s speaking out because he wants other homeowners to know this could happen to you.
“I want to be the voice for the future people that have to deal with this. There’s no protection for anybody from an event like this,” said Stepp.
69 News reached out to the Water Authority for comment, but they didn’t get back to us due to the Veterans Day holiday. 69 News did learn, however, that in a case like this, municipalities are protected under what’s known as the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, which requires homeowners to prove damage was caused by government negligence to file a claim. You have to file that claim within six months.
While Stepp works through all that, he has started a GoFundMe to support his family.
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