“nicolia, the OP does not have a case, do not lead this person on. The landlord never lied”,
Yes the landlord did lie. You were not in court, so you do not know what happened in court. Point Simple.
“the OP had no clue what she was doing in court and had her shorts handed to her. If all it took was a simple insurance claim, why didn't she just file a claim with the insurance company instead of wasting her time suing the landlord?”
I already said my husband tried getting the landlord’s info. and the landlord would not give us any name of any insurance company. How does one go about contacting the landlords insurance co. when one does not know the name of the insurance co.?
“Of course the insurance company is going to turn down the claim. Did she think to ask the landlord who his insurance company is in court?”
We did not ask him in court because we asked him by phone. And do to him not giving us any info. on his insurance, we took him to court.
“ Of course not, she didn't even think about till you mentioned it. “
yes we had already thought about the homeowner’s insurance. As mentioned above, we already talked to the landlord about the insurance.
”But of course a smart person would have filed a claim with their own auto insurance (which should have been the first thing done)and let them seek compensation if they felt someone else was liable.”
#1 I am smart, #2I highly doubt my auto insurance would have anything to do with this case.
“That is why we pay all that money for insurance. I am a landlord and my insurance would not cover such a claim.”
I can see why you are so defensive….it is because you are a landlord yourself and you are just trying to stick up for all the other rotten landlords.
“The point of the matter is who is liable for the damages? As I stated above, for the landlord to pay he would have to be negligent in his actions to be liable.”
As stated, he lied in court. He said he was not negligible. I had more proof than can be covered on a simple forum, therefore I decided not to go into further details.
“He was not. For that reason the homeowners insurance would not cover the damage. The next question is, who took the risk of parking under a tree? “
the tree is one foot away from the driveway. It is large and hovers over the driveway. The driveway is made for people to park in front of the house. I had every right to park in a driveway at the house I was renting at the time.
”And to the OP, you just answered the last question above. You stated that you knew the trees were in "bad shape" and did nothing”.
I only knew they were in bad shape after the limb fell on my car. I did not know the tree was in bad shape beforehand. I was aware that he had one other rotten tree in the yard as well as the healthy tree I was parked under. I thought it was healthy but I was mistaken as proven by the limb falling on my car.
“ Did you give the landlord written notice that the tree posed a potential hazard and should be looked at?”
the landlord was aware of all his trees. He told me specifically not to park under the rotten tree which was 50 ft away. he came over a lot and picked up the branches that fell off of the “healthy tree”. The branches fell on the roof. He knew the tree was getting to be in bad shape like the rest of the trees. He should’ve cut it down. As for the tree that was truly unhealthy – he cut it down after the court case. I drove by and saw it chopped down. HA! Imagine how much money he had to spend getting that one chopped down. That tree could’ve produced even more damage, not only damage to the next tenant’s car, but to his house as well!
“ If you had that would have been your proof of negligence. Did you think that maybe you shouldn't park under the tree that is in "bad shape"? This is called mitigating the damage. This is why the homeowners insurance is going to say no. You don't park your car in the middle of the street. Why? Someone will run into it and damage it. Same logic applies to parking under trees that are in "bad shape". “
see last paragraph. I didn’t know the tree was in too bad a shape until the hugest limb of all limbs fell on my car. The landlord was aware of all those limbs falling. He came over quite often but decided to be a cheap B#stard and not thoroughly inspect the premises and take care of his property.
”All the above would have applied if the tree branch hit and killed you. You took an assumed risk and lost.”
So me dying due to a limb hitting me over the head is a risk.? I took a risk by paying rent on a heavily wooded property? So parking in the driveway that I am paying rent for is a risk?
“And because you waited to get real legal advice you lose again. And look into buying some life insurance, you never know when a rogue tree branch may fall your way.”
That is one thing I have learned – get legal advice before attempting to go to court. And no thank you, life insurance is too expensive for me right now. Not everyone can afford it. Landlord’s should not only care for their tenants safety, but take care of their property. Landlords should come by the premises on a timely basis to make sure everything is looking “ok.” As I stated before, I agree that the tenant should notify the landlord as well. That is one thing that is well understood. Every wonder why Wal-mart does not have huge, tall trees in their parking lots? I rest my CASE>