Saturday, December 10, 2011

How Do I file this lawsuit (which court - small claims or other) against Windstream in OHIO?

Less than 4 years ago, Windstream installed pillars on both sides of my lawn in the front yard, and installed an underground line with a boring machine.





I became aware earlier this year that they are 8 inside of my property (not within the right of way).





I spoke to an attorney who was kind enough to tell me to file a lawsuit for trespass, to force them to move this stuff, or purchase an easement. However, this attorney made it pretty clear that this case was too small for him. He did feel that in the end, I should get about $5k.





Ohio small claims court has a $3k limit.





Should I .......





A. File 2 lawsuits in small claims court, and if so, how would I divide up the $5k?





B. File a lawsuit in regular court for trespass to request that they move their stuff....We know that they cannot do this, which will force them to buy an easement...





C. Other?|||You cannot file 2 lawsuits. Once the first is filed and adjudicated, you are barred from filing another. If you bring two at once, the defendant will move to have them joined.





Municipal courts in Ohio have a jurisdictional limit of $15,000. You may want to try your local municipal court.





Before you do any of that, you want to educate yourself to the facts of the case and ensure that you do have a case. Easement rights are often bought and sold among utility companies. If there is any easement in the area in which they placed the lines and pillars, they may have had a right to do so. Have you written to them to ask them why they put this in your yard? I am not familiar with Windstream (I assume they are a utility company?). Most larger companies have claims departments and they can either provide you with documentation that they had a right to put the lines where they did or settle the case and pay you for an easement.





Best of luck to you.|||Over something petty like that. This country is so sue happy, no wonder there are so many attorneys. Maybe part of that was upgrading for fiber which means better services. Id let my provider do that if it means better services, especially faster internet.

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|||Talk to a lawyer. Thats the best advice you will get. More than likely the company will settle out of court. The end result being that they will pay for the easement.

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