- March 28, 2024
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The humming hasn’t stopped inside the cream-colored house at 180 White Oak Circle in Maitland. And for resident Pauline France and her son Jeff Nancarvis, the struggle to resolve a sinkhole beneath their home still lingers.
France and Nancarvis received a check earlier this month after signing for a settlement with their insurance company for $350,000 – a step toward normalcy after sitting above a sinkhole slowly swallowing their home.
The mother and son have been trapped in a legal battle over the existence of the sinkhole for more than six years until their story broke out through local news media last April. The news coverage put pressure on their insurance company, Nancarvis said, raising their settlement from $187,000 to the $350,000 the policy had originally promised.
But the settlement doesn’t quite mean a happy ending just yet. France said she felt pressured by her attorney to sign the settlement, which prevented her from pursuing a “bad faith” lawsuit against Rimkus Consulting Group, which had claimed there was no sinkhole years before.
Afraid of prolonging their legal battle any further and unsure of what to do, France signed the settlement for $350,000.
“It’s been a really hard road for me,” said France, who’s suffered from high blood pressure over the past few years from stress.
“She told him, ‘I don’t think I can do this,’” Nancarvis said.
It’s been seven years since the uphill battle began for France and Nancarvis – when they first heard the low humming from somewhere inside their home that kept them awake at night. Nancarvis learned that the sound was coming from the neighbor’s high-powered well next door, tapping into the aquifer below and pumping out water for irrigation.
It was only a noise complaint back in 2009 – the pump would fire up late into the night throughout the week. But today the humming is something far worse: a nagging reminder that their feet aren’t planted on solid ground.
The deep impact well could have played a role in triggering the sinkhole to begin with, said Sandy Nettles, president and owner of geotechnical investigation firm N.S. Nettles and Associates Inc.
In April 2014, N.S. Nettles and Associates Inc. was hired by Nancarvis to conduct a sinkhole investigation, drilling three holes deep into the ground. Cracks had already begun to form outside the home back in 2010, starting beside the garage at the right side of the home and slowly wrapping their way around the house over time.
Nettles said their investigation clearly identified the activity below as a cover subsidence sinkhole, one that brings a structure down into the ground like a slow quicksand. Sinkholes of that nature are usually triggered by man-made causes, like deep welling.
Nettles added that there could still be a chance of a sudden collapse if there’s any bridging of clay sediment. France and Nancarvis had already felt the heavy boom of small collapse that tilted several picture frames in the house.
“We don’t know what all is down there,” Nettles told the Observer last May.
After legal fees for the public adjuster, France now has been left with a settlement of $280,000. The Maitland resident is now torn between two options: use the money to repair damages to her home and place metal columns beneath the house to prevent it from sinking or take a loss by selling the home for $200,000 less than its appraised value and move on.
It’s difficult to let the house go, said France, who planned on spending her years of retirement there, enjoying her pool and tending to her garden.
France isn’t even sure if her check will pay for all the repairs and sinkhole work.
The seven-year struggle has left France and Nancarvis weary and frustrated, but above all disappointed that they faced their struggle alone – that their tales of a sinkhole beneath their home fell on so many deaf ears.
“There’s just a feeling of helplessness … of hopelessness, where nobody cares,” France said.
“It’s like your house is on fire and all of your neighbors are just watching,” Nancarvis said.