I live in Minot, ND and in the last week we have had so much rain it has caused flooding. I live on a street off of an avenue that the trains run on, and with in the last few years that Rail Road Company has put in drive ways and ripped up all the grass along the area and replaced it with gravel so they did not have to mow and upkeep the grass. Because of the work they have done, when it rains very hard the gravel and dirty from it runns down into the street and blocks the storm drains which in turn causes the lowest are of the street to flood. The lowest area of the street happens to be right outside the street that my neighbors and I live off of and it floods our street and our backyards. I had four feet of water all the way around my house, I had water up to the ceiling in my basement and lost everything that was down there. A sink hole also opened up between mine and my neighbor to the north house, which blew an entire basement wall out in his home and has caused our home to lean that direction. Now, we don't own our home we are only renting, but we have lost everything, are living in a hotel with our 2 young children, 2 1/2 and 8 months and paying for it and the food we have to eat of course out of our own pocket. Our landlord has said that he can not reimburse us for the hotel and food, but has another house that opened up and we can move into it as soon as it is ready and he is going to work with us on the first months rent and deposit because we have over $1,000.00 tied up in hotel stays. What I want to know is what attorney I would need to speak with in order to open a class action lawsuit against the RR Company and City due to negligence and fault. This is also not the first time we have had the flooding due to the work the RR has done, but it has been the absolute worst, before it was 4 ft of water in your basement with only our backyards flooding and not the front street and yards. Also no renters or home owners insurance is covering any of the damage done due to the fact that we are not in an area considered a flood zone.

You can start with a general attorney. He or she can refer you out if he or she cannot take the case. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.