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Illegally parked & hit and run

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Daisey 523

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?I live in California.

My condo complex told me that due to re-paving, that half of the driveway and parking spots would be unavailable until 6:00p.m. on Sept. 28, 2005. It turned out that drying took longer than thought, so I could not access my assigned parking spot that night. People were hunting all over the place (480 unit complex) for parking. I noticed two cars parked next to the building (not a ‘red zone’ but the rule book says we are not allowed to park there) at 10:00p.m I had left, lost my spot in the visitor’s parking space, and returned at 11:30p.m. and could not find any parking except for next to the building. I parked there thinking that if the HOA/security didn’t want us parking there, they would have asked those other two cars to move by now. Plus it was late at night and the closest parking was two blocks away. I didn’t feel safe walking alone that far in the dark, especially because I am female.

At 1:30a.m. security woke me up saying that my car was not “parked in a safe place.” That I had to move my car, but they had “another place for me to park.” They just had me move down the driveway a bit, and instructed me to park along side (parallel) to the curb—but the curb was a red zone! I questioned security about the legalities of me parking there, and they said that it was okay to park there this night. So I parked my car there and returned to bed.

At 7:30a.m. I discovered that somebody had backed into my car, smashing the backside of my car resulting in $3300-$3400 in damages. There was no note left either!!

However, I feel that it is the duty of the HOA/security to provide safe parking and in attempting to discharge this duty to security, they did the opposite, they put my car at risk! I suffered damages by complying with their request.

My car was parked parallel to the curb, and across the width of the driveway, there were three visitor parking spots perpendicular to me. In trying to make my claim that the HOA/security should be responsible for damages, I spoke with the fire department and they said that my hoa/security should be responsible because under absolutely no circumstances should they have instructed me to park in the ‘red zone’ it is illegal at all times! Also, they said that city law requires that when cars are parked perpendicular, they are required to have a minimum of 20 feet of clearance to back out. I measured this space, and when my car was parked in the ‘red zone,’ the cars only had 18.9 feet to back out!

So, not only did security violate laws by telling me to park in the red zone, they denied the other parking spots across from my car their entitled backing out space.

Even if I knew who did the damage, it would not completely resolve the matter because that person could argue that we have areas designated as “red zones” and the people should be able to rely on security to keep them free for maneuvering their car, and for also allowing a fire truck to access the driveway. Instead, security explicitly required that an obstacle be placed there (my car).

I talked to management and they said they are not at all, in any way, responsible for any damages!

Where it stands now is that I am supposed to write up my claim, submit it to management, and then present my case at the next HOA Board meeting.

So, does anybody have any advice or suggestions for me? Do I have any legal ground to stand on in demanding the HOA to pay for the damages?

I have insurance, but I have a $500 deductible. I am a full-time student, I can barely pay my rent and bills each month, I definitely can’t afford the deductible. Nor do I feel that I should even have to pay it because I feel the HOA/security is responsible because they made me park in an illegal parking spot!

Thank you to anybody who could provide me with some feedback!
 



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