Car ran over large rock at night left by neighbor in alley, causing expensive damage.

[lkmiss]

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

Our neighbor has been doing extensive landscaping work on his home and rented a Bobcat bulldozer to move his own dirt around. He has been piling debris (branches, dirt, rocks, small boulders) at the back of his house on the edge of a public alley and from time to time, some has spilled directly into the alley. He also had a couple of dump trucks haul out his "bad" dirt, and a front end loader was used to fill the dump trucks parked in the alley. However, nothing was left in the middle of the alley after the dump trucks had left and the damage occurred about two weeks after the dumps trucks were there. Just wanted to mention that in case neighbor tried to point the finger at them.

My husband was driving down the alley one night and before he could notice it in the dark, ran over a large rock in the middle of the alley, which did extensive damage to his front bumper which had to be replaced. The circumstantial evidence was that the rock was from the neighbor's debris pile as it was right next to it. He is known for throwing stuff into the alley as well like weeds and branches. My husband knocked on the neighbor's door and told him that he hit a rock that was from his landscaping efforts. He showed him the large rock and the neighbor acknowledged that it was his and that he was sorry and that he would pay for the damages. Neighbor even recommended body shop to use, which my husband did. Fast forward to when the bill for the repairs was presented a week or so later, which was $1,200. The large rock is nowhere to be found and rocks in debris pile are noticeably missing. Neighbor now says that it wasn't his rock and other people must have been doing excavating/landscaping work who also live on the alley and he refuses to pay.

What recourse do we have now? We have no pictures. We can't prove it is his rock, even though he admitted it when initially shown the rock and damage. He can certainly now say that he never said that and it would be my husband's word against his since it was only the two of them that had the conversation. Would we have any legal standing in small claims court? And if so, what do we need to do to prove our case and win it since it is he said/he said at this point?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[TigerD]

Problems:
1. Proving it was that person's rock
2. Proving that person placed or caused the rock to be placed in the alley
3. Explaining why hubby was driving so fast in an alley to cause that much damage to his bumper when striking the inanimate object with his car
4. Explaining why hubby drove into an immobile object in the first place
5. Explaining why hubby failed to report the car accident to the police

Even if you could prove that it was the neighbor's rock and he placed or caused the rock to be placed in the alleyway, hubby was driving and ran into an obstacle, failed to report the accident, and may even have been speeding given the amount of damage you describe. I don't think you are going to be able to prove that the neighbor is more than 50 percent at fault.

Good luck.

DC

 

[justalayman]

I wouldn't even put 50% on the neighbor. Turn on your headlights so you don't hit stationary objects in the roadway.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Frankly all that I see is your husband negligently struck a fixed object in the road and failed to report the accident. The only one I see breaking the law is hubby. I suggest he pay the bill and go on with life. If it makes you feel any better, I struck a chunk of ice that fell from a semi wheel in the road a few years ago and broke my front bumper. As all I would have accomplished by calling the police was a ticket for driving too fast for road conditions, I repaired the bumper and moved on with life.

 

[lkmiss]

It was in a dark, unlit alley and the rock was apparently imbedded in dirt, so it looked like a small pile of dirt but it was not obvious even with headlights on. It's a dirty, dusty unpaved alley. The rock imbedded in the dirt was left behind by the neighbor directly behind his house when he was grading with his bobcat.

He was not going fast in the car as he does not like to kick up the dust and get the car all dusty. It's a luxury vehicle and has a low clearance on it which is why the rock did so much damage. I'll bet he wasn't going more than 10 mph if that, which is typical for him.

Who calls the police for hitting a rock? It's not like he hit a light pole or a fire hydrant or someone's personal property. What a waste of a policeman's time that would be! And, when confronted, the neighbor admitted it was his fault and said he would pay and told my husband where to take the car to get it fixed, which he did. Only when the neighbor saw the final bill from the damage did he renege. What a jerk!

 

[justalayman]

whether it was dirt or a rock, he saw how tall it was and figured what the Hell, I'm going to run over it even though it is obviously tall enough to hit the bumper of my fancy schmancy car. I don't care what a pile of dirt will do to my bumper.

and that's a good thing, especially after he figured out it was a rock and he couldn;t use his car like a bulldozer on it like he would have if it had only been a pile of dirt.

 

[davew128]

Frankly all that I see is your husband negligently struck a fixed object in the road and failed to report the accident. The only one I see breaking the law is hubby

That is, if you consider a rock a fixed object and hitting said rock constitutes an accident with another vehicle or property required to be reported. (Neither of which is true)

 

[Zigner]

That is, if you consider a rock a fixed object and hitting said rock constitutes an accident with another vehicle or property required to be reported. (Neither of which is true)

The State of Colorado disagrees:
http://web.lexisnexis.com/research/retrieve?_m=f4f805b91fec494321435c033f7f342c&docnum=17&_fmtstr=FULL&_startdoc=11&wchp=dGLbVzt-zSkAW&_md5=b8879d4282f7b6c64f7389d551583947

(1) The driver of a vehicle involved in a traffic accident resulting in injury to, serious bodily injury to, or death of any person or any property damage shall, after fulfilling the requirements of sections 42-4-1602 and 42-4-1603 (1), give immediate notice of the location of such accident and such other information as is specified in section 42-4-1603 (2) to the nearest office of the duly authorized police authority and, if so directed by the police authority, shall immediately return to and remain at the scene of the accident until said police have arrived at the scene and completed their investigation thereat.

 

[davew128]

The State of Colorado disagrees:
http://web.lexisnexis.com/research/retrieve?_m=f4f805b91fec494321435c033f7f342c&docnum=17&_fmtstr=FULL&_startdoc=11&wchp=dGLbVzt-zSkAW&_md5=b8879d4282f7b6c64f7389d551583947

(1) The driver of a vehicle involved in a traffic accident resulting in injury to, serious bodily injury to, or death of any person or any property damage shall, after fulfilling the requirements of sections 42-4-1602 and 42-4-1603 (1), give immediate notice of the location of such accident and such other information as is specified in section 42-4-1603 (2) to the nearest office of the duly authorized police authority and, if so directed by the police authority, shall immediately return to and remain at the scene of the accident until said police have arrived at the scene and completed their investigation thereat.

I suppose if the definition of property damage is expanded to include the damage consisting of solely one vehicle by itself and perhaps damage to the rock.

 

[Zigner]

I suppose if the definition of property damage is expanded to include the damage consisting of solely one vehicle by itself and perhaps damage to the rock.

That's not an expansion, dave.

 

[Ohiogal]

I suppose if the definition of property damage is expanded to include the damage consisting of solely one vehicle by itself and perhaps damage to the rock.

Damage to the car itself is PROPERTY damage. Hence the definition itself of property damage. How do you figure it is an expansion?