Sprinklers Said to Help Trigger Oregon Landslide

New sprinkler equipment and "unusually high" water use at a house in the Southwest hills probably contributed to a landslide that sent it crashing into homes below, city officials said.

The city's investigation of the Oct. 8 slide, while not definitive, found that the backyard sprinklers at 6438 S.W. Burlingame Place appear to be the leading suspect, said Commissioner Randy Leonard, who overseas the Portland Water Bureau.

"What has changed to cause the soil conditions to become so malleable that what had held for 75 years broke loose?" Leonard said. "What's different is the installation of the irrigation system combined with an unusually high use of water."

If that proves to be the cause, it may help settle the huge financial mess that the landslide left in its path, opening a liability claim against the house that fell. It was built in 1930 and is owned by Kathei and Dave Hendrickson.

According to city records, the homeowners installed a sprinkler system on the property in March 2005. Last September, a new back-flow device and shut-off valve were installed.

Neighbors have said a lot of landscaping work was happening at the house just before the slide, including tree and groundcover removal and some excavation. It's unclear whether the sprinklers were overused or a pipe broke. City water and sewer pipes in the area aren't to blame, Leonard said.

The Hendricksons' house fell into two others on Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard, moving one off its foundation. No one was injured. Two homes, including the Hendricksons', were destroyed, one was damaged and two others are too dangerous to occupy.

So far, some insurance companies have denied claims from homeowners who suffered losses, while others are still investigating. The case most likely will wind up in court.

Some of the affected homeowners already have filed claims against the Hendricksons, said their attorney, Robert Bonaparte. Their insurance company, Farmers Insurance Group, has agreed to defend against those claims, while it's still investigating the couple's property loss claims, he said.

It may be hard in the end to assess blame, said Julie Vacura, a lawyer for Chris Korsgaard and David York, whose home on Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard got slammed by debris. The couple have hired geo-technical experts to look into the cause, Vacura said.

"Since the slide has happened, it's taken a lot of evidence with it," she said. "If it's the result of somebody doing something wrong, we're going to try to figure that out."

What generally happens in these cases, Bonaparte said, is that property insurance companies initially go on defense. They deny the original claims until homeowners hire lawyers and sue them. Eventually, all the lawyers gather for a settlement conference and work out who will pay. The idea is to get all the responsible parties to the table.

In this case, the affected homeowners are looking into whether work done at the Hendricksons' house by several contractors may have caused or contributed to the slide, Bonaparte said. The contractors -- or their insurance companies -- could be part of the settlement talks as well, he said.

"The whole idea is to get a bunch of people with a bunch of purses in the room and hopefully get it worked out," Bonaparte said. "It is entirely possible that if lawsuits were filed before the end of the year that the parties might agree to a global settlement conference in the next six to nine months."

That's little consolation to Yuan Chou and his wife, Siukee Tong Chou. They lived in the neighborhood for 20 years before barely escaping as the Hendricksons' house came crashing down on theirs. The slide mangled their home and pushed it off its foundation. Now they rent an apartment.

On Friday, the Chous invited reporters to see the devastation and protest that their insurance company, also Farmers, denied their claim for coverage. In a 16-page letter, the company listed the many reasons why the Chous' policy doesn't cover landslides, despite any possible link to a broken pipe.

"We are extremely sad," Yuan Chou said. "We do not think this decision is correct. This was not a natural disaster. This was a human being mistake that made a landslide."

A national spokesman for Farmers said that the company was sympathetic to the Chous' situation but that an extensive investigation resulted in a finding of "no coverage."

Yuan Chou, a researcher at OHSU, said he can't afford a lawyer. The couple came to the United States from China in 1980 and became citizens in 1994. He was planning to retire in January.

Chou said he'll appeal Farmers' decision and hopes to recover his losses through the Hendricksons' liability policy. Chou said he has eight years left to pay on his mortgage -- $2,074 a month -- and is now renting an apartment for more than $1,000 a month on top of that.

"We have lived in this house. We will fight for full recovery," he said, tears welling in his eyes.

He paused. "If we cannot get it," he said, his voice choking, "we will die with this house."