California - My neighbor has several pets including 3 or so outdoor cats. One in particular comes onto our property a lot. We find paw prints on our vehicles all the time and often I pull into the driveway to see it sitting on top of my husband’s truck. About a year ago I bought him a truck cover since it is his second vehicle and sits in the driveway collecting dust.
Recently we noticed tears in the truck cover right where the cat sits. The tears progressively got worse and one late night my husband was taking out the trash and almost had a heart attack when the cat emerged through one of the tears in the truck cover.
Apparently the cat has been crawling into the truck bed, under the cover, and then clawing his way out when its ready to leave. The cover has now been torn to shreds and is unusable. It is laying beside the truck in the driveway. Incidentally, we still see the cat lying on the truck cover even though its no longer on the truck.
My husband approached the female neighbor and she said that she is aware the cat is often on our property because the previous owners of our home would feed it. She assured him that she would take care of it by replacing the cover.
Two weeks went by and my husband then approached the woman’s husband and he asked how we knew it was his cat. After explaining all of the reasons in conjunction with the conversation he had with the wife the man’s reply was that sometimes his wife is wrong about stuff. He adamantly told my husband that he would not replace the cover because the cat would just shred it again. He added that it’s an outdoor cat and to just live with it.
It seems unfair that my husband would have to sacrifice for someone else’s pet.
What legal recourse do we have?
Recently we noticed tears in the truck cover right where the cat sits. The tears progressively got worse and one late night my husband was taking out the trash and almost had a heart attack when the cat emerged through one of the tears in the truck cover.
Apparently the cat has been crawling into the truck bed, under the cover, and then clawing his way out when its ready to leave. The cover has now been torn to shreds and is unusable. It is laying beside the truck in the driveway. Incidentally, we still see the cat lying on the truck cover even though its no longer on the truck.
My husband approached the female neighbor and she said that she is aware the cat is often on our property because the previous owners of our home would feed it. She assured him that she would take care of it by replacing the cover.
Two weeks went by and my husband then approached the woman’s husband and he asked how we knew it was his cat. After explaining all of the reasons in conjunction with the conversation he had with the wife the man’s reply was that sometimes his wife is wrong about stuff. He adamantly told my husband that he would not replace the cover because the cat would just shred it again. He added that it’s an outdoor cat and to just live with it.
It seems unfair that my husband would have to sacrifice for someone else’s pet.
What legal recourse do we have?
