hi,
I recently have had a nasty experience with my neighbor and their
homeowners
insurance company. the neighbors had a irrigation water line break. it
flooded the area between my house and the neighbors. it also flooded a
****tion of my driveway and cracked open the concrete (by a little more
than
an inch in places). it also washed out dirt below my rock wall onto the
public sidewalk. I met with the neighbors insurance company and
explained
the damage to the driveway (and file my claim). they were slow to
respond.
it took 7 days for a insurance adjuster to visit the site. it took them
17
days to get a civil engineer to inspect the damage to my property. upon
meeting with the insurance adjustor, I also expressed my concern for the
safety of my rock wall in the area where the dirt washed out. I told them
I
live a few blocks from a grade school and lots of kids walk past my house
(in front of my rock wall) to get to school. I expected them to address
this urgent concern (yet they never did). her only comment to me at that
time was "well, you didn't get it nearly as bad as your neighbors". 29
days
after the flood they finally called my up to give me the results of their
investigation...which was the flood caused NO DAMAGE to my driveway and my
rock wall in safe. I certainly tried to get the investigation done
sooner.
anytime I called the insurance adjuster, she gave excused as to why the
investigation is not yet complete. her boss is on vacation. the person
writing up the investigative re****t had a death in the family, etc
here is a web link to a bunch of pictures of the flood and my rock wall
and
the dirt that washed out ( I think this will give you a pretty good idea
of
what happened).
http://home.att.net/~blyth_austin/drivewaydamageindex.htm
my question is, can I sue for punitive damages for the stress caused by
not
knowing if my rock wall was safe (they we're very slow to respond to that
concern)? I think that is a ligitimate concern as I live near a school
and
the area in front of my house is a high traffic pedestrian area.
shortly after the flood, I got a 1 million dollar umbrella on my
homeowners
insurance policy. I did this in case a rock from my rock wall fell and
hurt or killed someone. I do have a written statement from my insurance
agent stating I was worried about my rock wall collapsing and killing
someone and that is why I purchased the umbrella. the 1 million dollar
umbrella did alleviate some stress but not all of it. I later had a
geotech
engineer inspect my rock wall and he said it was most likely safe
(although
he said there is no real way to know for sure). the neighbors also had
most
of there rock wall rebuilt (a few months after this happened) supposedly
because of the damage caused by the flood. I think that alone would tell
me
(or anyone) that the safety of the rock wall and the safety of the many
school kids that walk by it each day was of little concern to them. they
never, ever blocked off the sidewalk in front of their rock wall to public
access. the investigative re****t the insurance adjustor gave me says the
neighbors rock wall will eventually fail yet it sat for over 3 months
with
dozens of people walking past it everyday. .
also, I was preparing to put my house up for sale when this happened (and
I
do have proof of this). that caused me more stress than normal because I
do
not know if the driveway damage will turn any potential buyers away.
by the way, my homeowners insurance WILL NOT cover any of thse damages.
court is my only avenue to receive compensation.
also, this is a SECOND PARTY CLAIM AND in my state insurance companies DO
NOT have to ACT IN GOOD FAITH when investigation second party claims (and
yes, the investigative re****t they gave me was full of lies and gross
inaccuracies..which are easily provable).
I think I will need to go to court over this. I just need to know if
being
award for punitive damages may be justified in this case. if so, I will
search out a lawyer (I would like that route as I have been treated so
horribly in this situation and just don't want to put much more time into
this incident). otherwise I may be forced to settle this in small claims
court (actual damages was only $3700). my goal would always be to settle
out of court but I don't know that the neighbors or their insurance
company
want this (they've been pretty hard nosed from the beginning...although
they
may be bluffing). if I do go to court, I would like to hit them as hard
as
possible. I was the one that shut the neighbors irrigation water off (and
most likely saved the neighbors and their insurance company tens of
thousands of dollars in repair costs)......and they know this. . I work
out of my home. had I not be around, I think the rock wall would of
collapsed and most of my driveway and the neighbors would of suffered
major
damage. we have no other neighbors and we live up on a cliff (retaining
rock wall) so it's unlikely anyone else would of noticed until the rock
wall
callapsed.
I have talked to the neighor regarding my damages and he tells me it's all
the previous owners of his homes fault (apparently that person extended
the
driveway and that was what caused the water line to break. he also told
me
since that person has no money, he won't be able to pay me for any of the
damages (he also told me he doesn't have any money). he went so far as to
say he won't pay ANY DAMAGES, not $500, not $5 etc. it's not his fault
(he's repeated that on the 3 occasions I have talked to him). I think he
knows his waterline break damaged my property. he's never once told he
didn't beleive me. he just keeps saying it's someone else's fault.
maybe I should of grabbed my video camera and started videotaping the
whole
thing (instead of shutting the water off). I did not think my neighbors
would try to screw up (I do know then and they seemed like very honest
people). I'm sure they wouldn't be jerking me around had I have them a
videotape of the whole incident. by the way, the neighbors were on
vacation when this whole thing happened.
all comments are much appreciated.
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