Other Property Matters

If land is improved by buildings and an adjacent landowner’s excavation causes that improved land to cave in, the Excavator (Contractor) will be liable only if they were negligent. Strict liability does not automatically apply to the Contractor’s actions, unless the landowner of the damaged property (the Plaintiff) shows that, because of the Contractor’s (the Defendant) actions, the improved land would have collapsed even in it’s natural state. The presumption is always that any added weight, in this case the added buildings, did play a contributory rule.

In other words, for strict liability to apply, the Plaintiff must show that the improvements on his land, e.g. the shrubs, the fountain, the structures, did not contribute to his land’s collapse.

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