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</head><body><p>Look at the city's ordinances, and see how they define side sewer (sometimes called private sewer in the ordinance.) Typically the property owner is responsible for the entire length of the side/private sewer, and the city is responsible for the trunk line. But some cities will accept responsibility for side sewers to the property line, because they don't like anyone they do not have control over digging in the street. </p><p>In addition, street ROW is in typically in the nature of a public easement, and is not owned by the government. See, Finch v. Mathew, 74 Wn.2d 167-68 (1968) ("Since<a href="http://www.mrsc.org/mc/courts/territoryreports/001territoryreport/001territoryreport0207.htm"><em></em></a> Burmeister v. Howard, 1 Wash. Terr. 207 (1867), this court has not departed from the rule established in that case, that the fee in a public street or highway remains in the owner of the abutting land, and the public acquires only the right of passage, with powers and privileges necessarily implied in the grant of the easement.") (Not often I get to refer to a territorial report, so I take the opportunity to do so when it appears.)<br></p><p><br></p><blockquote type="cite"><!-- [if gte mso 9]> --><!-- <![endif] --><!-- [if gte mso 9]> --><!-- <![endif] --> On January 29, 2016 at 1:58 PM Craig Gourley <craig@glgmail.com> wrote:<br><br><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">Listmates, Client’s sewer line is crushed about 75 feet from her property line in the city right of way. City is claiming that even though they own the land, the homeowner is responsible for the side sewer until it connects to their main. My understanding has always been that the homeowner is responsible to their property line and then it becomes the city / county’s problem. Anyone successfully challenged this? Thanks!</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Gourley Law Group</span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Snohomish Escrow</span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Exchange Connection</span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold',sans-serif;">1002 10<sup>th</sup> Street / PO Box 1091</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold',sans-serif;">Snohomish, WA 98291</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold',sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold',sans-serif;">360.568.5065</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold',sans-serif;">360.568.8092 fax</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold',sans-serif; color: #0563c1;"><a href="mailto:Craig@glgmail.com">Craig@glgmail.com</a></span></span><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></blockquote><p><br> </p><blockquote type="cite">_______________________________________________<br>WSBARP mailing list<br>WSBARP@lists.wsbarppt.com<br>http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/wsbarp</blockquote><p><br> </p><p class="io-ox-signature">Scott G. Thomas<br>Law Office of Scott G. Thomas<br>1204 Cleveland Avenue<br>Mount Vernon, WA 98273<br>(360) 503-1042<br>www.scottgthomaslaw.com<br><br>Because this is a communication from a lawyer, it necessarily contains warnings such as this. I am a lawyer, but unless we have entered into an agreement for legal services, I am not your lawyer. And, if this message was intended for someone else but you have inadvertently received it, I ask that you delete the message and let me know you received it so that I can take steps to make sure you do not receive messages in the future. Thank you.</p></body></html>