Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has been ordered to pay almost $3.3 million in compensation to a man from Freeport whose house was damaged by a leaking water main.
Balchan Gopie, of Chickland Village, Freeport, won his negligence lawsuit against the authority after a trial in April 2018.
The compensation owed to him was assessed by High Court Master Sherlanne Pierre on Monday.
According to the evidence in the case, the underground pipeline in the road in front of his home began leaking in mid-2012.
Although Gopie made several reports to the authority, the leak was only repaired between December 2012 and January 2013.
The soil in Gopie’s property was drenched by water leaking from the pipeline and Gopie noticed cracks in his home’s foundation and columns.
Soil tests conducted by officials of the Ministry of Works and Transport and a private geotechnical report prepared by a structural engineer stated that the damage to Gopie’s home was due to the leaking water.
Gopie’s lawyers led by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, of Freedom Law Chambers, filed the lawsuit after he sought assistance for the $2.2 million needed to replace or reconstruct his home, which was deemed a hazard, and received none.
“I felt frustrated, hopeless and distressed as I was given assurances by the authority, ministers and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Transport which were never fulfilled,” Gopie said in an affidavit attached to his lawsuit.
“I feel like I am going in circles and I am left in limbo without receiving any form of definitive response or redress,” he added.
In the lawsuit, Gopie claimed that the authority was negligent in allowing the leak and failing to rectify it within a reasonable time.
Through the lawsuit, Gopie sought compensation to replace his home, for the technical reports he had to obtain to find the cause of the structural damage, and for the distress he suffered. He was also seeking his legal costs for pursuing it.
In its defence, the authority denied any wrongdoing as it claimed that the leak was not due to its underground pipeline but rather due to a lesser pipeline that connects it (the water main) to Gopie’s property.
It also alleged that the properties in Gopie’s community are prone to landslides.
“Any damage that the Claimant may prove was done to his building was as a result of a landslide/land slippage in the area. That surface run-off flowed unrestricted as a result of the landslide and exacerbated same,” it stated.
Gopie’s case was not the first time the authority was ordered to pay significant compensation for property damage due to a leaking pipeline.
In 2017, former High Court Judge and current Appellate Judge Vasheist Kokaram ordered $2.2 million compensation to Darwin and Kamalar Sahadath, whose Princes Town home suffered similar damage from a leaking pipeline.
A year later, the Court of Appeal dismissed WASA’s appeal challenging the outcome.
In December 2022, the United Kingdom-based Privy Council rejected the authority’s final appeal as it declined to conduct its own assessment of the evidence based on the concurrent findings of the local courts.
In March, last year, High Court Judge Joan Charles upheld a similar case brought by Janet Rousseau, of Upper Pashley Street, Success Village, Laventille, whose house was destroyed by a ruptured water main.
WASA was ordered to pay Rousseau almost $1.7 million in compensation, which represented the costs associated with a replacement home and damages for breach of its statutory duty and for causing a nuisance.
Gopie was also represented by Jared Jagroo and Robert Abdool-Mitchell. WASA was represented by Keston McQuilkin and Summer Sandy.