Dallas denies homeowner's claim after city-owned water main breaks three times
DALLAS – CBS News Texas first reported in August about a Dallas homeowner facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage after a city-owned water main burst multiple times. Since then, he has filed claims with the city and his insurance company, both of which have been denied.
It may look like a lake, but it's one of two floods in Robert Brown's backyard in his Preston Hollow neighborhood. He said the floods caused around $350,000 in damage.
The water main breaks on a city-owned pipe occurred behind Brown's home along Margate Drive over the past two years, in February 2023, February 2024, and August 2024, according to City of Dallas spokesperson Nick Starling.
The City of Dallas Office of Risk Management issued this statement:
"Each of the claims submitted by Mr. Brown were caused by flooding from pipeline failures at or near 4310 Margate Drive. These pipeline failures were in the same general area but occurred on different segments of pipeline. The pipeline failure was a result of degradation of the pipeline over time. The flooding was not caused by the negligent use of motorized equipment or vehicles. These claims were denied for Governmental Immunity."
"I'm not saying you ran into my house with your vehicle. They're city-owned assets that caused the floods," Brown said.
SafeCo Insurance, owned by Liberty Mutual, also denied Brown's insurance claim.
"Once they determined it was something off-property, they found something in the policy that seemed to fit called 'surface water,'" Brown said.
The most recent water main break has been repaired, but Brown says the problems it caused are far from fixed, and he's close to foreclosure.
"I liquidated everything. We have no retirement at this point. I got a bunch of credit cards, and I maxed all those out, and then I got about $300,000 in personal loans," Brown said.
Brown and his wife are so desperate financially that they started a GoFundMe page.
"I'm hoping the city watches this and looks at it again. I'm hoping a Liberty Mutual representative looks at it again and says, 'You know, there's something here. We need to look at it again,'" Brown said.