Pipe Burst one week after closing

[Lee Davis]

Hi All

I'm a first time home buyer and this is my first time posting on this forum.

Scenario: I have a weird scenario where a week after closing on a home a pipe burst in the second floor unit of a duplex I purchased in late January of this year. The pipe bursting caused extensive water damage to the second and first floors and about 4 inches of flooding in the basement. I hired a company to complete the renovations and a public adjustor to help with my insurance claim. The problem is that the insurance company is requiring utility bills from 3 months prior to me owning the property to prove the home was adequately heated. I reached out to my attorney to contact the previous owner to provide them. About a month later (early March), the seller provided screenshots of the amount due for each bill but not the full utility bills that would have detailed the energy usage. This is insufficient for the insurance company and the seller has been unresponsive when my attorney has contacted his attorney for the full billing statements. 

I'm not sure what to do next. The public adjustor is getting frustrated that I'm not able to obtain the bills and the seller is completely unresponsive. 

Potential Solutions: (a) I'm thinking of contacting the seller directly (I obtained his/her email from already provided screenshots) and asking for the utility bills. Or (b) I also think that maybe there could be some liability on the previous owner since he turned off the utilities right after closing but didn't turn off the water so could potentially sue for damages.

Looking forward to hearing from the community