Co-op kitchen flooded by neighbor..

[Misterskyline]

What is the name of your state? NY

Hello, a week ago my upstairs neighbor had some kind of leak and flooded my kitchen ruining my newly installed cabinets and flooring. I went upstairs with the super, and we believe we saw evidence of a recent leak by the sink area. I spoke with the co-op management and they said they will stop by to look at the situation. The upstairs neighbor says they do not know anything about what happened. I don't believe them. I do not have homeowners insurance and neither do they. I would like to be compensated for the damages. What are my options and do I have a chance to recoup any losses here. Damages seem to be in the thousands according to the super. Thank you.

 

[adjusterjack]

I would like to be compensated for the damages.

Not gonna happen. It wasn't a "leak", it had to be some sort of sudden break in a water line to "flood" your place. That would likely imply no negligence on the part of the neighbor and, therefore, no liability to you. Even if the neighbor did have homeowner's insurance, his claim rep would know that and deny your claim.

I do not have homeowners insurance

TS. Here's your sign.

Take all the money you have saved by not paying insurance premiums and use it to repair your damage.

Oh, you are welcome to spend money on a lawsuit and see if a judge disagrees with me.

 

[Misterskyline]

Not gonna happen. It wasn't a "leak", it had to be some sort of sudden break in a water line to "flood" your place. That would likely imply no negligence on the part of the neighbor and, therefore, no liability to you. Even if the neighbor did have homeowner's insurance, his claim rep would know that and deny your claim.



TS. Here's your sign.

Take all the money you have saved by not paying insurance premiums and use it to repair your damage.

Oh, you are welcome to spend money on a lawsuit and see if a judge disagrees with me.

Thanks for your reply. That is very unfortunate that they can basically spill a bucket of water onto their floor to wash it and quickly mop it up, and I will be left to pay for it every time? There has to be some kind of solution, no? Im just curious.. In a hypothetical situation, lets say there was a situation where the neighbor's sink got clogged(with food for example) and the neighbor left the sink unattended and it overflowed. And before we got up there, they quickly mopped it all up. Is there any possible way of proving this happened or I am pretty much out of luck? The only evidence I have is that the super can also say that he saw a damp area by the sink and that there is water damage to my cabinets. There are 2 other floors above us, but they were all dry.

 

[adjusterjack]

In a hypothetical situation, lets say there was a situation where the neighbor's sink got clogged(with food for example) and the neighbor left the sink unattended and it overflowed.

That would be more inclined to be negligence.

And before we got up there, they quickly mopped it all up. Is there any possible way of proving this happened

Possibly.

The only evidence I have is that the super can also say that he saw a damp area by the sink and that there is water damage to my cabinets.

A damp area by the sink only proves that there was a damp area by the sink. Doesn't prove where the water came from. You're speculating that it was an overflow due to something the neighbor did or didn't do. I'm speculating that is could be a pipe or line break or a fitting that came loose and gave way. That a large amount of water did a lot of damage in a short period of time suggests that either of those causes could be true but there would be no way to prove one or the other without the admission of the neighbor. Either way, the neighbor could have cleared the clog and mopped up or fixed the water line and mopped up. If he is smart enough to keep his mouth shut the burden of proof is on you, and you wouldn't have any.

 

[zddoodah]

I do not have homeowners insurance and neither do they.

SMH...

Do you have a mortgage and, if so, is your lender aware that you don't have insurance?

I would like to be compensated for the damages. What are my options and do I have a chance to recoup any losses here.

That depends on whether you can prove that the damage resulted from negligence on your neighbor's part.

 

[Misterskyline]

SMH...

Do you have a mortgage and, if so, is your lender aware that you don't have insurance?



That depends on whether you can prove that the damage resulted from negligence on your neighbor's part.

Mortgage paid off a long time ago.

How does one even prove something like there was negligence on neighbors part? And I'm just curious what kind of lawyers deal with stuff like this? Would this be a small claims case?

 

[adjusterjack]

How does one even prove something like there was negligence on neighbors part?

As I explained earlier, sometimes you can't prove it.

And I'm just curious what kind of lawyers deal with stuff like this?

Any kind of lawyer can handle it. It's Torts 101. You can obviously prove that the damage occurred. But if you can't prove negligence you don't win.

Would this be a small claims case?

Could be. NYC limit is $10,000. Nassau and Suffolk counties' limit is $5,000. Elsewhere in the state the limit is $5,000 in cities and 3,000 in towns and villages.

http://www.nycourts.gov/courthelp/SmallClaims/index.shtml

 

[zddoodah]

How does one even prove something like there was negligence on neighbors part?

It is impossible to answer this question in the abstract. How did the leak occur? When did the neighbor know about it or have reason to know about it. You don't just decide you want to sue and say, "how can I prove it?" Rather, you gather and examine all of the facts and determine whether or not those facts support a lawsuit.

I'm just curious what kind of lawyers deal with stuff like this?

Any lawyer who does civil litigation.

Would this be a small claims case?

The limit in small claims court appears to be either $3k or $5k or $10k, depending on whether you'd be suing in a town/village court or a city court and depending on where in NY you are.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

I once represented a client in a similar situation. His hot water heater leaked. He replaced it and mopped up. The downstairs unit was owned by a lawyer. He demanded $20,000 to replace the cabinets in the rented unit, and sued. I filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted, citing various Massachusetts cases. The judge denied the motion to dismiss, so we began preparing for trial. In the meantime, downstairs lawyer claimed another incident had taken place. By now, my client had purchased insurance and we simply told lawyer to submit new claim to insurance company. Previously, he had been relying on the Condo Association Master Insurance Policy (which his mortgage company seemed happy with).

Downstairs neighbor ended up settling for a few hundred dollars and glued the laminate that had come loose, completely repairing all the damage.

Personally, I have a little trouble believing that your newly installed cabinets and flooring are ruined, but I'm not in any position to dispute that. I also have trouble believing that the upstairs neighbor knows nothing about the incident. If it had been a leak he or she would know that the leak had been repaired.

If you present evidence of the damage to the jury, and he denies knowing anything, there's a chance the jury will decide he's lying and render a verdict for you.

You should probably get a professional estimate of the damages, rather than relying on the opinion of the super.

 

[Misterskyline]

I once represented a client in a similar situation. His hot water heater leaked. He replaced it and mopped up. The downstairs unit was owned by a lawyer. He demanded $20,000 to replace the cabinets in the rented unit, and sued. I filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted, citing various Massachusetts cases. The judge denied the motion to dismiss, so we began preparing for trial. In the meantime, downstairs lawyer claimed another incident had taken place. By now, my client had purchased insurance and we simply told lawyer to submit new claim to insurance company. Previously, he had been relying on the Condo Association Master Insurance Policy (which his mortgage company seemed happy with).

Downstairs neighbor ended up settling for a few hundred dollars and glued the laminate that had come loose, completely repairing all the damage.

Personally, I have a little trouble believing that your newly installed cabinets and flooring are ruined, but I'm not in any position to dispute that. I also have trouble believing that the upstairs neighbor knows nothing about the incident. If it had been a leak he or she would know that the leak had been repaired.

If you present evidence of the damage to the jury, and he denies knowing anything, there's a chance the jury will decide he's lying and render a verdict for you.

You should probably get a professional estimate of the damages, rather than relying on the opinion of the super.

Thank you for your very detailed reply. Really appreciate it. There are 2 other floors above that neighbor. Im curious if its somehow possibly that one of them caused this. There have been cases where a leak was able to skip floors in a different apartment where I lived at. The 3rd floor was doing renovations, an old pipe in the wall busted, and somehow skipped over the 2nd floor and came straight into my 1st floor kitchen ceiling. Seems there are so many variables here to take into account that luck is not on my side.