Works director held responsible for house damage

A Kercem couple whose house was damaged after the works department carried out asphalting works in their road have had their writ for damages upheld in the Gozo courts.

Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona heard the writ filed by Mario and Rose Fenech against the director of works and the chief engineer in the works department but ordered only the director to make good the damages sustained by plaintiffs.

The Fenechs claimed the works department had carried out asphalting works in the road where they lived in 1993.

A water pipe in the road had been broken and the water had seeped into the Fenechs' house and its underlying structures, and had led to staining of tiles and cracks in the tiles.

The Fenechs added that the façade of their house had been ruined and that the pavement outside their house had been damaged.

The court was requested to condemn defendants to make good the damages sustained.

Defendants pleaded that they were not responsible for any damages sustained by the Fenechs.

The court however found in favour of plaintiffs, save insofar as their claim regarding the damaged pavement was concerned, as the repair works had been carried out by the local council.

The court found that plaintiffs had sustained damages to their house and that the director of works was not denying that the works had been carried out on his instructions and within his responsibility.

It was therefore the director of works who had to make good for the damages sustained by the Fenechs.

However, no evidence had been produced to establish that the chief engineer in the works department was in any manner responsible for the damages.

The director of works was ordered to carry out the necessary repair works to the Fenechs' home within three months, while plaintiffs were authorised to carry out the works themselves at the director's expense should the director of works fail to do so.