Need advice. How to get neighbor to pay for damage?
 

My neighbor decides to move on and rents the house to a very nice couple, now there's another new person that moved in to the bottom floor. Nice guy, a chef. He loaded up some of his trash, long metal pipes in the city cans that stuck out about 4' out of the can. Trash truck goes and dumps it last week, and it ended up on the roof of my 4 runner that I purchased less then 2 months ago. A very clean car with a little more then 25k on it. I got his first name from the people upstairs and talk to him for a bit and he agrees to pay for the damages. The estimate is 3700 bucks and now he wants to talk to his lawyer. the trash truck driver said the metal can't not be loaded that way and the city is not responsible for it. I know he's thinking about moving out soon closer to work. what kind of info of his do I need to go after this guy? what would you do? Collection agency, small claims? I have no clue? Even if i win in court, I still would get my money. My deductible is 1000 bucks.

If the metal cannot be loaded that way, why did the garbage man even try to dump them?

Now that you've shocked him with the $3700 estimate, I'd let him pay the $1000 deductible or take him to small claims if he won't.

I'd just turn it into my comprehensive policy, and move on. Sounds like an honest accident, and you could spend forever trying to get $ out of him.

I'd like to edit my last statement. I did not read about your 1 k deductible. Maybe try to have him pay that, or at least have him pay half of it? Sucks, sorry to hear about the damage.

Would your/ his homeowners policy cover it? I was driving past a golf course and took one to the windshield compliments of a hack duffer. I pulled over and confronted the guy and his homeowners insurance paid for a new windshield.

Last people in control of the pipe was the trash company. Policy or not, they picked it up and had control of the pipe.

If you go the lawyer route, my guess is he'd say to go for the big pockets. That would be the trash hauler.

Turn it into your insurance company and pay the deductible. Once your company suffers the loss they will go after the responsible party (subrogate). Whether its the garbage company or the person next doors fault will be figured out by your insurance company at their time and cost. If they win your case you will be refunded for your deductible. Unless one of them pulls out the check book asap you will send lots of time pursuing this on your own.

Do you have a good insurance agent? Talk to them. This is the reason why I have a brick and mortar agent. I am pretty sure she'd suggest JKelly's route.

$1k is a lot of money, but OTOH, what is time and aggravation worth to you?

G

He rents

But the landlord should have some type of policy in place, it's worth a shot.

AAA and never a claim.

What personal info do you think I will need from him and what if he gives me nothing?

Just like your other thread on the hit and run, you need to give all the info on both incidents to your auto and home insurance agents and let them advise you/ deal with it. That's what you are paying them for.

I'm a sales agent for AAA here in MN. Whether you have AAA or any other insurance company this would be a comp claim and if you file the claim with your company you would have to pay the deductible and hope your company is successful at subrogating your loss to the responsible party. To me it sounds like the garbage hauler is that person. The renter was not there when the garbage man dropped stuff on your car, how could he have been responsible? My guess is AAA would pursue the garbage company only.

Getting money out of the city would be a btich.

This is an unfortunate situation. Although placing pipe in the trash can sticking out is not wise nor permitted, it happened. Both the trash truck and the resident are culpable, but I don't see any resolution beyond what the car's insurance co can do.

And, if they pay out everything but the deductible, it's doubtful they will incur the expense of trying to collect. Ins cos know where to draw the line and then let a lot slide because it takes too much resource to pursue it.

Now if there was any personal injury as a result of this, I'm sure the parties involved would be much more cooperative. I've noticed that when you notify a city about liability issues they are quick to act.

You've already got your answer, I'll just add another vote to it. Claim it on your insurance and pay the deductible. The trash hauler is the liable party but leave it to the insurance company to go after them.

I always thought the 4 Runner needed a bit of extra character. Nothing says it better than letting everyone know you can lay some pipe.:D

So looking at this another way....in picking up the neighbor's trash the hauler *allows some of it to fall on your vehicle?

And *they did not report it to their supervisor?

That just is not right.....whether in a legal realm or not......maybe contact the city manager and ask about liability - given *these circumstances.

Worth a shot - as a city resident I would think you would be afforded certain basic rights and considerations.

What if a news story were written about this - after the city refused to make it right?

If they don't follow their own policy, does not matter if they have a policy. Driver was acting as their agent, yada yada
Landlord pretty much has to have a policy in place, unless he owns the place free and clear.

All this said, turn it into your insurance, get the other guys name and driver's license number if you can. I am betting you are out a grand on this deal, but this is why you pay for insurance, so you don't have to deal with this stuff.

THIS - ask me how I know:eek:

We had a deal involving our house and MIL car. Both policies were with State Farm and they jumped in and took care of everything with no deductible.

Landlord isn't resposnible for the actions of the tenant.

Tenant put wrong trash in the bin.

Garbage company acted on it, and caused damage.

The tenant isn't at fault. The landlord definitely isn't at fault. The garbage company is. Good luck collecting.

PS> How did you get 3500$ in damage???

My wifes honda oddyssey had a telephone pole fall on it. Insurance paid about $4000 to replace the entire roof sheetmetal and repaint.

Bo

the usual response by an attorney would be to sue them all and let the court sort it out

1K is usually small claims

let the ins. co. have the first go at it

The trick is to get the neighbor's info like Dr. lic. or even his last name.

sounds like he knows where the guy works, his name, and lic. plates, address... all you need to get to go after him - but he said nice guy so...

The landlord will certainly have that

you bought a 4runner because it was pretty?

your truck just got character

Didn't think about that, but will he give up the info? I can always get the lic plate number off his car.

Rebb, he seem to be a nice guy but the damage might be over his head.

I was just about to say this too.

I used to spend a lot of time (trying to) getting money out of people as a landlord, and the first thing is to document everything. Time date license plate, photos.

Something I wouldn't actually do myself :rolleyes: is after he has left collect his mail and on his bank statements you will be able to figure out where he works and people do not like you arriving at there work demanding money - this usually works. Plus payments to some pre-school or similar. Be there a little earlier than drop off time and demand he honour his responsibilities.


Make it his problem, not yours.

Good one. Thanks

It's not his problem, it's the fault of the trash hauler.

Don't waste your time going after the tenant.

JR

Agreed.

You seem intent on going after the tenant for whatever reason. Doing all the tracking, investigating, mail interception, harassment at work of the tenant can open you up to legal liabilities as well. If you don't sue him and get a judgement, you are harassing someone who may not be liable and you can bet he will have a lawyer on you in no time. You claim he is a nice guy, yet you're willing to pursue him to pay for something that's, arguably, not his fault.

If you do take him to court, you'd better also take the trash hauler as well, suing them both. I can almost guarantee that if you don't, the judge will side with the tenant. If you're set on making the tenant solely responsible, at least approach him to pay your deductible and go through your insurance. Even so, I think you're barking up the wrong tree with this. The trash hauler is responsible for the damage, not the tenant. If you want to risk it in small claims, that's your call.

Repeating what I posted earlier......

How does the trash hauler cause this much damage without a) knowing it happened and b) reporting it to their supervisor?

Generally speaking......their job is to watch out when handling bulk matter. It's like a crane operator....it's his job to be aware of everything going on in their sphere.

The trash hauler is the one at fault. Go to them - their employer - whatever. You have to present as much documentation as possible. Photos along with written report and as much detail as possible.

That is where I would start before heading in the legalities...

You have insurance - time to use it. I'm with the majority - don't go after the neighbor. It isn't his fault and odds are if he's a chef he doesn't have $3700 sitting around and probably doesn't have renters insurance. And doing the amateur PI thing is lame imho and will just get you bad juju down the road.

Accidents happen - that's why we have insurance.

I disagree with the prevailing culture(law) on this point, but understand the logic and general implications of it.
It is a complex subject.

To achieve justice, using the legal system, an individual citizen should not be forced to hire profesionals at hundreds of dollars an hour.
-Justice should not have a price atached.
-Justice should not be exclusive only to those able to afford it.

An individual acting pro-se seeking to right a personal wrong should have access to the every opportunity the private professional sector has.

do NOT commit a federal crime by collecting his mail, bank stmts. or otherwise

Jeez!

That's why I am asking here because I know some of you guys here must have some experience with this sort of things. The trash hauling company is the city of Los Angeles. Getting them to pay for anything is like squeeze blood out of a rock. The first thing the trash man told me was the pipes were sticking out beyond the can you neighbor should pay for it.

It not worth getting into all the legal BS.

Exactly - so it's OK to proceed with investigation and research of your own - just stay within' legal and common sense boundaries....

Law enforcement and the insurance industry are RESOURCES. Resources should ALWAYS be considered.

INTEGRATE where applicable.

The wise man is the one who knows how to use his resources - including his own common sense and ability to obtain data.

Legally.

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As a first step in the investigation process - I'd still contact the trash removal contractor before anything else is done...if nothing else just to notify them of the incident so it can be documented. This just seems to be common sense.