Can I sue neighbor's Home Owner's Insurance for loss?

[asiasnana]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee

I was away from the home I rent for a trip. Many times over the past three years our neighbor has watched the house for us when we would leave, feeding the animals, turning on lights, seeing that no one broke in etc.

I do not have renter's insurance on this rental house.

This past trip, I was gone for 14 days. When I got back the front door lock was broken. The neighbor said he had broken the key off in the lock. He went in through the back door which he says he left open and unlocked. We had been burglarized for over $30,000. in personal property including a large amount of gold and diamond jewelry. Our cat had a broken hip also when we got home. There are many suspicious clues that make me sure that he had a woman over to my house while we were gone also. He admitted that he had left the back door unlocked. He never informed me about the key or the cat although I had various conversations with him while I was away.

My question is the following; can I sue their home owner's insurance for liability to cover my losses from the burglary?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[justalayman]

My question is the following; can I sue their home owner's insurance for liability to cover my losses from the burglary?

no, unless somebody from the insurance company was the party that caused you harm. Other than that, your action would be against the neighbor. Whether he would attempt to invoke any liability coverage he may have is up to him.

 

[ecmst12]

I doubt your neighbor is liable here. Not having renters insurance is the dumbest thing you could have done and I have no sympathy.

 

[justalayman]

Personally I think he might have a claim if he can prove the negligence of the neighbor was the cause of the burglary. If there was no forced entry and the key in the lock and the back door unlocked as claimed, I think he has a good shot. I doubt the neighbors insurance would be liable for indemnifying their client in such a case so it would come down to what he can collect from the neighbor though.

Now, proving he lost $30k in the burglary might be a problem but that is another issue.

 

[moburkes]

The very first thing the OP would have to do is file a police report.

 

[justalayman]

The very first thing the OP would have to do is file a police report.

I took that as a given but you may have a point. There is no mention of the police at all.

 

[asiasnana]

I doubt your neighbor is liable here. Not having renters insurance is the dumbest thing you could have done and I have no sympathy.

If you are an insurance adjuster, it doesn't surprise me a bit that you have NO SYMPATHY! We had contacted some companies for rental insurance and they had informed us that they covered only complexes not SFH's in this area. Also, I did file a police report and the detective says he won't even read my statement because it is two and a half pages long. Memphis is a cesspool from top to bottom. I am here because my granddaughter who is 4yrs. old lost both her parents and am trying to get out of here with her. This loss is devastating to me. The neighbor was being paid to watch the house, feed the pets and turn lights off and on. He never informed me of anything being awry during any of our conversations. I have a comprehensive list of things taken and many photos of the jewelry.

 

[moburkes]

No, she's not an adjuster and neither am I.

While I'm sorry that you're going through so much, that doesn't change any of the facts. No insurance company denies renters insurance for SFHs. Just not true. You could have filed a complaint with the department of insurance if that was the case.

At the end of the day, it's the neighbor's fault, the police officer's fault, and everyone else's fault but yours. Some lessons are hard to learn. I've had my fair share of them. But all of this could have been avoided had you purchased the proper protection. Also, you have no business leaving jewelry out like that - while you're gone, for 2 weeks. It doesn't make any sense.

But, if you ARE looking for help, not just sympathy, then I would work on making that policy report much shorter.
1. A list of what's missing, and the approximate value (depreciated or replacement cost, depending upon what the officers tell you).
2. The siuation - that you left your home in the care of your neighbor, you had done this before, but not for this length of time, and that you found out afterwards that he had a key.

Period. Let them do the investigating. In the mean time you can file a civil case against your neighbor, unless the policy investigate and are able to make a criminal case.

 

[asiasnana]

No, she's not an adjuster and neither am I.

While I'm sorry that you're going through so much, that doesn't change any of the facts. No insurance company denies renters insurance for SFHs. Just not true. You could have filed a complaint with the department of insurance if that was the case.

At the end of the day, it's the neighbor's fault, the police officer's fault, and everyone else's fault but yours. Some lessons are hard to learn. I've had my fair share of them. But all of this could have been avoided had you purchased the proper protection. Also, you have no business leaving jewelry out like that - while you're gone, for 2 weeks. It doesn't make any sense.

But, if you ARE looking for help, not just sympathy, then I would work on making that policy report much shorter.
1. A list of what's missing, and the approximate value (depreciated or replacement cost, depending upon what the officers tell you).
2. The siuation - that you left your home in the care of your neighbor, you had done this before, but not for this length of time, and that you found out afterwards that he had a key.

Period. Let them do the investigating. In the mean time you can file a civil case against your neighbor, unless the policy investigate and are able to make a criminal case.

I am not looking for sympathy, didn't ask for it so I don't know why this is your issue. I am looking for solutions to a very dire and bad situation that I find myself in. I did contact two carriers and they said they only insure apartments not SFR's, so calling me a liar is pretty counter productive. I have no reason to lie, just looking for what can be done here to lessen the damage which is tremendous. I was under the impression that the jewelry was in a lock box where my daughter had kept it. She just informed me during this trip when I said we needed to sell some of it to relocate, that she had put it in the house before she left here and which places she had hidden it. I am already feeling more than bad about not making sure that that was the case and for everything that has happened to us over the past 6 months here alone. I realize that it is partly my fault for not being 100% sure of where she had everything. I am not however responsible for this neighbor being negligent or worse yet downright criminal and also not informing me immediately of anything that was odd or awry while I was gone. I am also not responsible for how negligent the Memphis Police Department is regarding victims of crimes and their lack of any effort to effectively investigate leads and suspects. So assuming things is a bad deal all the way around. That includes you assuming anything about me.

I have given the police the list and value of things known to be missing as well as my narrative about things that were very inconsistent about how my neighbor reacted, his actions and what he had to say about things since I have been back.

I am doing all that I can, I am unfortunately horribly overloaded and it is very difficult to effectively meet all of the demands on me as well as the challenges to meet our basic survival needs at this point.

 

[moburkes]

Please tell me where I called you a liar.

 

[justalayman]

Please tell me where I called you a liar.

OP is inferring that her lack of locating insurance companies to provide renters insurance to SFR's would be calling her a liar.


asiasnana, moburkes works in insurance as well as several other members here. You might want to accept their input as accurate. I'm not in insurance but I can say I have never heard of an insurance company not offering renters insurance for a SFR. It makes no sense as it would remove themselves from a very large market.

 

[moburkes]

OP is inferring that her lack of locating insurance companies to provide renters insurance to SFR's would be calling her a liar.


asiasnana, moburkes works in insurance as well as several other members here. You might want to accept their input as accurate. I'm not in insurance but I can say I have never heard of an insurance company not offering renters insurance for a SFR. It makes no sense as it would remove themselves from a very large market.

Yep, I think he took it as me calling him a liar. What I said was that, if he received those types of responses, that he should have contacted the department of insurance.

It would be stupid not to accept houses for HO4 policies. The only other thing which came to mind, was that OP may have been confusing to the agent/CSR. OP should have been looking for renters insurance (rent a unit in an apartment, condo, or home), not rental insurance (own a home that you rent out).

 

[LawCastle]

If you paid the neighbor to watch your house, then you and he/she had a contract. If, as a result of your neighbor's negligent execution of his duty, you have suffered a loss, then you can sue him. Standard home owner insurance policies typically offer personal liability indemnification. You, however, do not have to worry about that. Sue your neighbor and he will deal with his insurance company.

 

[tammy8]

OP is inferring that her lack of locating insurance companies to provide renters insurance to SFR's would be calling her a liar.


asiasnana, moburkes works in insurance as well as several other members here. You might want to accept their input as accurate. I'm not in insurance but I can say I have never heard of an insurance company not offering renters insurance for a SFR. It makes no sense as it would remove themselves from a very large market.

Maybe the agent told you they only did apartments because they didn't want to tell you your credit sucks. Or that you already had too many past claims. Or that the house was unacceptable due to conditions(as in a mobile home or doublewide). Who knows but I have never heard of a company refusing to insure stick built houses.

 

[asiasnana]

helpful vs. aggressive posts

I haven't had any claims on any of my homeowners or previous renter's insurance. I have no idea if they were confused or not. The fact is I received this information and then was working on getting out of here within this month when this happened. Bad decision on my part to not keep pursuing the renters insurance issue but so many things here in Memphis are not what I have found to be true ANYWHERE else, I just focused on getting out. Obviously my mistake. A costly one.

If you would look at my user name asiasnana, you would realize that I am not a male, nana being a feminine word meaning grandmother. Therefore I am a she and not a he.

I have no time or interest in anyone's desire to engage me in an adversarial exchange or any ego based attacks based on blind assumption.

I simply posted a question to help me determine if I had any viable remedies to this very difficult situation.

To those of you who helped by giving the best information that you could provide given the information I posted, I thank you very much. To others who seemingly are posting to forward a personal agenda of hostility and feigned superiority, thanks but no thanks! There are much better things to do with our time. Thanks again to those who posted on this thread with the intention of giving me viable information that could help!