Engineering Assessment of Karst Sinkhole Causation and Prediction in Litigation

Sinkholes in karst environments can cause damage to facilities and structures and pose a health and safety risk. The occurrence of sinkholes is difficult to predict and poses liability to planners, designers, owners, and engineers who practice in these areas. Often times the occurrence of sinkholes leads to litigation over who is responsible and who should have anticipated and designed mitigation to prevent consequences of sinkholes. Where performance does not meet with expectations, individuals are put at risk, or where damage occurs, litigation frequently ensues. The critical components of the litigation often revolve around causation, predictability, and cost to remediate and/or prevent future sinkholes. Causation is important to identify responsible parties. Since the number of factors that influence the frequency, severity, and locations of sinkholes are many and involve geology, geotechnical engineering, surface water hydrology, and groundwater hydrology, a multidisciplinary approach is needed. A logical and prioritized basis is best to assess the relative merits of various mechanisms and determination of the one or two primary factors that either caused a condition to develop, or exacerbated an existing condition, and those factors that could reasonably have been anticipated using the appropriate standard of care. From an engineering perspective, it is essential to understand the causative factors to develop and estimate the costs for mitigation and restoration. The presentation will address the factors important to this assessment and approach to prioritization to deduce the key causative factors for covered carbonate karst. The presentation will also address the measures to identify the certainties and address the uncertainties in karst conditions for litigation