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Mr. and Mrs. Edmunds BRS File No. : 11016684 Our File No. : MPS27645 April 17, 1997 of that surface wall, a distance of approximately 91 , which we believe is the height of the wall you have built. We realize that you also did some swale work on the adjacent property. Whether or not the entire setup constitutes an improvement over what your contractor had originally contemplated is not quite clearly proven to us. We do not feel that the $13,716.25 that you are claiming as damages has been clearly established. We believe part of the dollar figure you refer to relates simply to the fact that the excavations you have undertaken required a more substantial wall than was originally contemplated. To summarize, we point out that in order for a claim to be made, there must be a duty and that duty must be breached, and the breach of that duty must result in damages. We do not see that there was a duty owed to you by the city inspectors at the time the construction was undertaken on the adjacent property. The city inspectors' duties were to the city of Orono in general, and we do not feel that those duties were breached. The relationship between your property and the adjacent property was part of an agreement between the previous owner of your property and the owner of the adjacent property. To a certain extent, that agreement becomes part of the condition of the property, which we presume you purchased on an as is basis from the prior owner. All issues of liability aside, we do question whether you really suffered significant damages because the small surfaced stone wall originally contemplated by the adjacent property owner was never installed. We realize that much of the reasoning presented in this letter and during the course of our discussions on April 14 may be new to you, and we therefore do make clear our willingness to hear from you with any response with respect to any points that you feel are not valid. We also point out that there may be other defenses to your claim which have not been outlined in this letter. This letter is not intended to be a perfect, all-inclusive legal summary, but merely an indication of our position and the reasons we believe that our position is correct at this time. We are always willing to hear your point of view. Although we can make no promise regarding any change in our opinion or 4