Retaining Wall Collapses

Retaining walls are a common feature of modern infrastructure for everything from transportation to building foundations to ornamental installations. We depend on them to hold back substances – liquids and solids – to keep ways clear and make things safe. We also depend on the engineers who design retaining walls and the technicians who install them to ensure these walls can do their jobs responsibly to prevent collapse and other problems.

Retaining walls do sometimes fail, though. There are many reasons this can happen, and regardless of the root of this occurrence or its outcome, people can and do get hurt. If reinforcements are improperly placed or adjusted improperly, the wall could collapse. Similarly, saturation of the material behind a retaining wall with water or another liquid can cause the wall to collapse as it attempts to maintain more weight-by-volume than it was designed to withstand. Issues in the original foundation can create a problem to any wall’s capability, and such possibilities should be assessed before a wall is built or designed. Other design errors, which may include failure to account for environmental or situational factors but may also include miscalculations or poor instruction for installers, implicate walls’ designers in their failure. Installation errors can cause the same host of problems. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed because of the collapse of a retaining wall, you may need the help of an experienced North Carolina or South Carolina attorney at Grimes Teich Anderson.

While not every failed retaining wall spells disaster, many situations involving collapsed retaining wall cause pain and property damage. Major collapses of retaining walls affecting roads can be a severe danger to drivers but also to the efficiency of the transportation system as a whole, increasing congestion during reconstruction and thereby increasing the potential for accidents. Collapses of structural walls and dams can lead to widespread damages affecting the property of many people at a time. Other situations involving retaining wall collapse may affect the structural soundness of buildings. Regardless of the type of wall collapse that takes place, dealing with the cost of repairs after the fact can place great strain on those involved.

To make matters worse, determining who is liable for the damages in cases where retaining walls collapse requires significant research and analysis of the evidence. Insurers may be unwilling to cover the injury costs that can be associated with the failure of a retaining wall. This is why it’s important for victims of such accidents to hire an attorney experienced in personal injury and wrongful death to represent them in such cases. The attorneys at Grimes Teich Anderson know the law and have been fighting insurance companies for years on behalf of injury victims.

If you suffered an injury or your loved one was killed as a result of a retaining wall failure, don’t go up against this profit-driven bureaucracy by yourself. Call an attorney at Grimes Teich Anderson today so we can fight for you and help you get the benefits to which you may be entitled.

Did you or a loved one suffer property damage, injury, or even death as a result of retaining wall failure in North Carolina or South Carolina? Contact Grimes Teich Anderson today at (800) 533-6845 and ask for your free consultation with an expert attorney, or fill out the online case evaluation form on our website.

Grimes Teich Anderson LLP has law offices located in Spartanburg, Greenville, and Gaffney, South Carolina and Asheville, Waynesville, Rutherfordton, Spruce Pine, and Franklin, North Carolina.