Mud/Dirt Slide from Neighbor Caused Damage to My Property

[Jason2222]

My question involves real estate located in the State of: Oakland, CA

I bought my house a year ago, and the fence of dividing the properties began to have mud slide and push the fence over our dividing boundary and encroached onto my property. Because my neighbor built another unit/house (with permits) near the boundary and i live in the bottom of the hill the fence that's holding the mud/dirt began to bend and pushed onto our property. My friend who's a civil engineer believed that either his property was build on unstable foundation or on a foundation that has deteriorated and could no longer support his second unit and created pressure on the mud and pushed the fence over our property. We talked with the neighbor and he is unwilling to fix the problem. Can I file an lawsuit against him because he's causing damages on my property and I want him to fix his problem even though the damages to my property is minimum? Also if I were to hire professional engineer to determine that my neighbors house causing the mud slide, will I be able to recover the cost of hiring the engineer and attorney if i were to win the case?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[Mr. Knowitall]

You should not expect to recover the cost of your engineer, and you may find that even if you hire an engineer your expert won't be able to fully analyze the situation without access to your neighbor's land. Your friend would be in a better position than anybody here to tell you what, if any, access is likely necessary.

If we're talking about a boundary fence, he may well be statutorily on the hook for half the cost of repair or replacement without regard to why the fence is failing.