The Tucscon, Arizona city trash service picks up trash in the alley behind my house. The alley there has an especially narrow corridor due to the neighbor directly across the alley having a wall extending four feet further than all the other property lines (grandfathered-in). Making things even more challenging is the fact that there is a corner to be turned in this narrow corridor of the alley. The result of this situation is that the huge city trash truck needs to back up midway through the turn in order to round the corner and, in the process, the truck has struck the block wall on my property numerous times. I have never physically witnessed this happening, but there is plenty of residual damage that indicates an exceptionally large (i.e. tall) vehicle is responsible for it and the city is (so far) taking my accusations seriously.
I called the city trash department at one point a couple of years ago and was told by the person who answered that I had to have physically witnessed the damage occurring in order to file a claim for reimbursement from the city. Disappointed and frustrated, I spent $1500 out of pocket on repairs to my block wall, reinforcement columns built on either side of the wall, and bollards placed in front of the wall within the property line for the purpose of preventing future damage.
Well, fast forward about 1.5 years later. The bollards have now been struck so many times that they, too, are needing to be replaced and I am feeling especially perturbed. I called the city trash department again and this time I was told that I do NOT have to have witnessed the damage-in-action in order to file a claim. Grr. The good news is that I will now be able to submit a claim for the replacement of the bollards but I will not be able to submit a claim for the previous repairs because there is a 180-day time limit for claim filing.
When I expressed my grievances regarding their previous incorrect reporting of policy and procedure, I was told that the onus to know my rights and the laws was on me and not on their office to provide accurate information. And, of course.. there is no way to take them to court with a he said/she said argument... and that is all I have to my credit at this point since I did not tape record the phone conversation with the person who gave me incorrect information.
I would love to receive some feedback on this situation. Is it really my responsibility to know what I can and can't file a claim for? And, if it is my responsibility, how else would I find out besides calling up the department I'd want to file the claim with?
I called the city trash department at one point a couple of years ago and was told by the person who answered that I had to have physically witnessed the damage occurring in order to file a claim for reimbursement from the city. Disappointed and frustrated, I spent $1500 out of pocket on repairs to my block wall, reinforcement columns built on either side of the wall, and bollards placed in front of the wall within the property line for the purpose of preventing future damage.
Well, fast forward about 1.5 years later. The bollards have now been struck so many times that they, too, are needing to be replaced and I am feeling especially perturbed. I called the city trash department again and this time I was told that I do NOT have to have witnessed the damage-in-action in order to file a claim. Grr. The good news is that I will now be able to submit a claim for the replacement of the bollards but I will not be able to submit a claim for the previous repairs because there is a 180-day time limit for claim filing.
When I expressed my grievances regarding their previous incorrect reporting of policy and procedure, I was told that the onus to know my rights and the laws was on me and not on their office to provide accurate information. And, of course.. there is no way to take them to court with a he said/she said argument... and that is all I have to my credit at this point since I did not tape record the phone conversation with the person who gave me incorrect information.
I would love to receive some feedback on this situation. Is it really my responsibility to know what I can and can't file a claim for? And, if it is my responsibility, how else would I find out besides calling up the department I'd want to file the claim with?
